Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher says Raheem Sterling didn’t dive to win a penalty against Arsenal at the weekend.

Sterling was fouled by Nacho Monreal early on in the second half, and Michael Oliver pointed to the spot for Sergio Agüero to convert and leave Arsenal with a mountain to climb.

Arsène Wenger questioned the decision in his post-match interviews, and suggested that Raheem Sterling is a good diver, but Gallagher says there was no dive on this occasion.

Dermot explained to Sky Sports: “Sterling is in possession of the ball, Monreal comes across and barges into him. The damage is done when he barges into him so it is an upper-body challenge,” reports Sportsmole.

“Wenger would have been even more upset had he sent him off. You could argue that he is in on goal and hasn’t made a clear attempt to play the ball. It could have been a red card, but it is definitely a penalty.”

When Wenger reviews the incident, he’ll probably agree that there was no simulation on the part of Sterling. The contact was exaggerated, as contact so often is in the Premier League, and it was a soft penalty, but it probably was a penalty nonetheless.

Technically, Wenger didn’t actually claim that Sterling dived, he just said: “We know that Sterling dives well, he does that very well.” The implication is obviously that Sterling dived in this case too, but it wasn’t explicitly stated by Wenger, so calls for the Arsenal boss to “apologise” by Alan Shearer are a bit ridiculous, in my opinion.

Regardless, the offside for the third goal was the more obvious incorrect decision. Although it obviously affected the flow of the game, it’s harder to argue that the goal cost Arsenal a result, given they were still losing at the time. That’s probably where Wenger should focus, either way.