Diouf and Bolton self-destruct

Bolton Wanderers 0 Arsenal 1: Even the tea ladies at Bolton Wanderers wanted to press home the point that, off the pitch, El-Hadji Diouf is the sort of "lovely guy" who always has a smile and time for a chat. Very sweet, except there were regulars in the Blind Beggar who used to say the same about Ronnie Kray.

The conclusion to draw from Arsenal reaching their seventh FA Cup semi-final in eight seasons was that it would have been a more hazardous route had Diouf not been on his apparent crusade to be recognised as the most reviled man in football.

And for that he deserves condemnation rather than the type of sympathy in evidence after his flailing of an arm into the face of Jens Lehmann.

Particularly unpalatable was that his manager at the Reebok Stadium, Sam Allardyce, and the captain, Gary Speed, directed indignation elsewhere.

Allardyce claimed it was "non-volatile" and, despite being 60 yards away, queried how the assistant referee could possibly have seen it from 40 yards.

He then alleged Lehmann had tried to "intimidate" Diouf when the goalkeeper was trying to dissuade him from confronting Bennett over a disputed penalty.

Speed complained bitterly about the alleged histrionics of Lehmann and Allardyce concluded his defence of Diouf with the statement that Bennett should not have been given the match because he "had to be fatigued" after officiating a Champions League match in Monaco on Wednesday. Bolton's manager was wallowing in a vat of sour grapes.

On top of the red card flourished in Diouf's direction, Bennett flashed five yellows at Bolton's players and four at Arsenal's and the only unwarranted one went to Robert Pires, who was cleared of diving by the television replays.

Allardyce also overlooked that Stelios Giannakopoulos, with two crude challenges, would have been sent off were it not for Bennett's leniency and it was only at the very end, as the questions were winding down, that he acknowledged Diouf's self-destructive streak.

"He changes during games. He can control himself 95 per cent of the time" said the Bolton manager. "But then something happens, the red light goes on and the fuse blows."

This rush of blood came so early it was as decisive as Freddie Ljungberg's superbly worked goal six minutes earlier.

With Patrick Vieira untouchable in midfield, Arsenal controlled long spells and Ljungberg's stoppage-time miss, spooning his shot over from three yards, was damaging only to his own statistics.

"Then again, Lehmann is well over six feet and he went down very easily," Speed said. "Arsenal are very clever. You can say it's cheating or not cheating. But they go down very easily."

It was a statement that epitomised Bolton's refusal to go quietly. Allardyce's players coped admirably with having 10 men and created two presentable opportunities to equalise, both with headers from Giannakopoulos, but to quote their manager they had "lost their cool" long before the end.

The FA will issue a mandatory £25,000 fine for their indiscipline and Diouf could face further sanctions for taking so long to leave the pitch.

"There is no better education for our younger players than coming to a place like this," said Wenger.

"When Patrick Vieira arrived in England we went to Wimbledon and after 20 minutes we had Tony Adams and Steve Bould with stitches above their eyes.

"It's like that here. A few of the Bolton players were on the edge - Diouf is always like that - and some of their tackling was only just acceptable."

This was new territory: Wenger complaining about the discipline of an opposing side and not risking allegations of hypocrisy.

Diouf would have fitted into that Wimbledon side but the on-loan Liverpool forward would also have been reminded at London SW19 that red cards tend to lead to defeats that, in turn, lead to a loss of income.