Big Sam gives us the chance to throw stones at his glass house

Morten Gamst Pedersen was guilty of one of the most laughably bad dives the Premier League has ever seen last weekend at the Emirates. But while Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce admits that his winger’s stumble was worthy of a booking, he claims players are forced to dive because of referees’ reluctance to punish foulers:

“But what about players who are dishing out fouls all the time? I would like to see them being punished, not least because it would mean those on the receiving end would not need to resort to diving.”

A huge irony about Allardyce’s stance is that the same lack of punishment allowed El-Hadji Diouf to escape with just a yellow for a horrendous lunge on Manuel Almunia in the very same game. It’s also worth noting that innocent victim Gamst Pedersen was sent off himself earlier this month against Hull, receiving a second yellow for a late challenge on Kamil Zayatte.

It is also perhaps a little odd for Allardyce to slam the level of fouling in the Premier League when Blackburn are bottom of the disciplinary table for the fifth season running, while Kevin Davies committed more fouls than any other player in each of Allardyce’s last three seasons at Bolton.

Pedersen could do with some work on his play acting

Aside from the fact that Andrei Arshavin braved the positively non-Siberian North London climate without gloves in the second half, the most astounding thing about Saturday’s Arsenal/ Blackburn match was Morten Gamst Pedersen’s ridiculous dive.

MOTD pundit Alan Shearer does a superb job of describing exactly what happens in the video above, so we won’t retell it here, but suffice to say, the Norwegian should have been punished.

Have you ever seen a less convincing dive than this? Let us know below.

Thanks to Rob@OTP for tracking down the video

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And finally… Help keep The Spoiler alive by clicking the video below. Who knows, you may love it…

Pedersen enjoys some ‘face time’ with Jason Roberts

Thanks to Sporno fan Owen for digging out some over-the-top Lancashire celebrations.

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