Raheem Sterling says Arsène Wenger’s post-City comments that the winger “dives well” were uncalled for, as the 23-year-old felt he had a right to go down.

Arsenal lost 3-1 to Manchester City in early November, and the second goal came courtesy a Sergio Agüero penalty, won by Sterling. After the match, Wenger said: “I believe it was no penalty. We know that Raheem Sterling dives well, he does that very well.”

ESPN asked Sterling about the statement in a recent interview, and Raheem responded: “It’s a bit strange because if someone kicks you or pushes you from behind then what else do you expect? It was something I didn’t really pay attention to but at the same time it wasn’t called for really.”

Of course, it’s perfectly normal for the media to try and stir the pot in these instances.

Although I’m sure Sterling heard the ‘he dives well’ comment repeated over and over in the news and on social media, he clearly didn’t hear the follow up comments, when Wenger said: “The striker will always go down. If it was one of my strikers he would certainly have gone down as well.”

As a result, Raheem is naturally asking what else you expect him to do even though Wenger has already explicitly stated that Sterling’s actions were exactly what he expected, from any Premier League forward.

Essentially, there’s no disagreement here, apart from the one manufactured through misleading headlines.

There was contact from Nacho Monreal, Sterling went down very easily, and all Arsène Wenger did was point that fact out.