Wenger vents his spleen

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger turned his considerable ire back on the Carling Cup final officials after watching his side slide out of the FA Cup at Blackburn last night.

Benni McCarthy's 87th-minute wonder goal consigned the Gunners to more knockout woe and Wenger was not slow to make his feelings known over the charges facing two of his players.

Wenger is convinced striker Emmanuel Adebayor is the victim of mistaken identity over his red card for supposedly throwing a punch during the final at the Millennium Stadium.

The Togo striker  was given a straight red card just minutes after coming on as a substitute towards the end of the game after becoming involved in a melee with Frank Lampard and Cesc Fabregas among others which was sparked by the fracas between Kolo Toure and Mikel John Obi.

The Togo striker failed with his appeal for wrongful dismissal and was further charged with reacting aggressively and failing to leave the field of play immediately after being sent off.

Now Wenger has branded the linesman who tipped off referee Howard Webb over the alleged incident a "liar".

And he has also questioned why a second Arsenal player, Emmanuel Eboue, also faces an FA charge of violent conduct, which is due to be heard later today, while opponents Chelsea escaped unscathed.

Wenger said: "I feel Adebayor didn't punch anybody so when the linesman says he punched somebody, he lies. When he says he punched Lampard, I would like you to ask Lampard if he was punched by Adebayor and I want him to say the truth.

"If it is yes we will accept it, but we have watched it on microscope and if you see Adebayor punching Lampard I would like you to show me that."

Wenger added: "It is just a coincidence that you have 20 men who have a brawl and only the Arsenal players were guilty. It is unbelievable but maybe they (the FA) have their own way to do justice."

Wenger's press room rant overshadowed McCarthy's magnificent strike and the Arsenal boss was clearly in no mood to dole out plaudits to his team's conquerors.

Pointing out Rovers' negative performance to grab an initial draw at the Emirates Stadium, Wenger grumbled: "I feel hard done by because if you look at what Blackburn created over the two games you feel punished.

"We didn't take our chances and Blackburn took the only chance they had in 180 minutes."