Arsene Wenger has announced that he will defend his midfielder Patrick Vieira when the French international faces his misconduct charge.
The charge was brought about after Vieira was unluckily dismissed in the Gunners 1-1 draw with Chelsea.
The Arsenal captain has been accused of breaking the FA rule E2, which involves making abusive and/or insulting words to the match official. He was sent off for committing fouls on Gianfranco Zola and Jesper Gronkjaer.
However, Gronkjaer has stated that it was he who made contact with Vieira, and not the other way round.
Wenger said: “I have not spoken to Patrick yet but you can read lips on TV. I’ve looked at the replay and he doesn’t even touch Zola. And everybody heard what Gronkjaer said about the other incident.
“There is no doubt we will appeal – and for two possible reasons. The first would be that he didn’t say it and the second was that it was very harsh to send him off.
This is the fourth time D’Ursoo has booked Vieira in the last five matches the air have met and Wenger suspects that his skipper’s reputation goes before him.
“It would be sad if Patrick was sent off just because he is Vieira,’ stated Wenger.
Vieira will definately miss the clubs encounter with Bolton Wanderers as there is no way Arsenal can appeal against a sending off incurred as a result of two fouls.
It is only the misconduct charge that the can appeal against and, with the possibility of a long ban for Vieira, Wenger is adamant about pursuing the appeal.
“In any case, I feel Patrick deserves to be defended on this. It would be irresponsible of the club not to do so.
