Graham Potter accused Bukayo Saka of diving as his side lost to Arsenal on Sunday and even though the Guardian claim he rowed the accusation back, he did not.

We all remember the incident.

Marc Cucurella clearly fouled Bukayo Saka (again) but Michael Oliver was having none of it.

Saka picked himself up, fouled Cucurella in return and went straight into the book.

It was Saka’s first foul of the game while the Chelsea man somehow avoided being booked the entire game despite repeatedly fouling Saka.

That was also Saka’s third yellow of the season and, despite having been on the receiving end of 19 fouls in the Premier League this season (and just think of how many haven’t been given), has seen just one yellow dished out to his opponents.

I struggle to recall another player who gets kicked as much as Bukayo Saka without protection who also gets accused of diving. I’m not blind, I know there are players in the Arsenal side who will go down easy and roll around, but Saka is not one of them.

As Cucurella fouled Saka for the one that wasn’t given, Graham Potter reportedly shouted that Saka had dived.

Fair enough, in the heat of the match we all shout stupid stuff.

However, reading a headline on the Guardian that said, “Graham Potter rows back after accusing Bukayo Saka of dive,” I clicked on the piece expecting Potter to admit he’d seen a replay and it was not a dive.

Here’s what he actually said; “I think there was one action that was a little bit contentious, shall we say, but I don’t think he is that type of player.”

Do you see any ‘rowing back’ being done there?

What I see is a manager stating that he still believes it was not a foul (and wasn’t even given anyway so what’s his problem?) while also implying heavily that Saka dived, even if he is not, overall, ‘that type of player’.