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Wenger - My take on the Alexis incident

Towards the end of Wednesday’s victory against Leicester City, Alexis was booked for an incident with Christian Fuchs after not retreating far enough for a throw-in.

The Foxes defender appeared to then throw the ball straight at the Chile international, and afterwards Arsene Wenger was asked about the altercation in his post-match press conference.

This is what he had to say:

on the Fuchs/Alexis incident…
I did not see where he was hit, but I saw on the first two attempts when Fuchs tries to throw the ball in, Alexis stood next to him. I don’t think he knew he had to be further away. As well, I must say that the referee didn’t tell him. After the first attempt, the referee didn’t tell him he needs to move away so he thought he was in the right position. After that he got a yellow card because he didn’t respect the rule. I accept that because he was not the right distance. The referee or the linesman should have told him. On top of that Fuchs was lucky not to get a yellow card because he threw the ball at him on purpose.

on whether Alexis was booked for not retreating or simulation…
I don’t know. I assume that it was because he was not [retreating]. The referee saw where the ball hit Alexis better than I did.

on whether he saw where the ball hit Alexis…
No. I was looking in the box because I thought the danger wasn’t Alexis, it is what happens in the box. I saw afterwards that it had hit him somewhere, so I will check on the video.

on whether Leicester went in heavily on Alexis towards the end…
Robert Huth went in really hard on him. I helped him to get up and he was bleeding on his lips. He touched him in the face but I don’t know whether it was accidental or not.

on Alexis’ mood after the incident…
If you know Alexis, you don’t worry about what happened there. He will be the same tomorrow and the same on Sunday.

on whether Alexis needs stitches…
No.

on whether he has discussed contracts with Alexis and Ozil…
That’s a question I would not like to answer tonight.

on Benalouane’s challenge on Giroud…
That was a dark orange [card]. That is close to red.

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