DIDIER DROGBA'S tumultuous week took another sharp turn yesterday when Arsene Wenger accused him of diving to win the free-kick which set in train a famous 4-1 win for Chelsea.

"We live in a league now where the divers are rewarded," the Arsenal manager said, having seen his captain, Cesc Fabregas, cautioned for mimicking a diving action in front of the referee, Phil Dowd, after Drogba, having been caught on the ball, tumbled with a flourish.

"I don't think the free-kick should have been given," added Wenger. "It is not right, but it is like that. It's down to the referee to do his job. But if you ask me the question of whether Drogba dived, it means you have a doubt in your mind."

The Chelsea manager, Guus Hiddink, suggested that if every incident in the game was worthy of picking apart, Wenger might have noticed some simulation in his own team. Emmanuel Adebayor twice took highly dubious falls. "There were also some other incidents which the referee was very gentle about," said Hiddink. "When you win you should win with modesty, and when you lose you should try not to pick over things."

Having spent the past few days going over the aftermath of Chelsea's Champions League exit at the hands of Barcelona, Hiddink urged Uefa not to punish Drogba, who reacted angrily to that defeat, when it deals with the incident in the coming week. "I don't expect much from that," he said. "He saw he did wrong and apologised for it. We don't know what is going to happen, but if the people at Uefa are football people rather than bureaucratic people, they'll take that into account - the fact that he apologised."

Hiddink was pleased with Drogba's contribution yesterday, given the attention trained on him. "We told him everyone would be focused on him, so he had to play the simple game. He put in the free-kick for Alex's beautiful header. He did not react to any challenges."

The Chelsea manager understandably expressed satisfaction in so resounding a result and said it confirmed his team's position as one of the top two or three sides in Europe.

Wenger tried to brush off the catastrophe that has engulfed his team in the past few days, after heavy home losses to Manchester United and now Chelsea. His message to those supporters who have felt compelled to go home early twice, such was their embarrassment, was bizarre.

"Everybody is free to leave the stadium when he wants," he said. "I don't believe we put in a bad performance today."

"That was never a 4-1 game," he added. "Going forward, we had a very interesting game and created plenty of chances. We made a mistake and were one down, but we missed seven or eight clear-cut chances and every mistake we made was punished because we were playing a team of quality."

Still clinging to the brighter side of things, Wenger went on: "Three months ago, everybody said we'd finish 10th. They'd have been happy to have finished fourth. In the games that mattered in the last three or four weeks, we couldn't win. That's what we have to analyse.

"This is a job for strong people. This is a good opportunity to show we have the mental strength to perform at this level." Arsenal have now conceded four goals against Liverpool and Chelsea and three against Manchester United over the course of the season.

"I feel we have quality defenders. It's more a question of balance in the team rather than individuals," Wenger said.

It was left to Hiddink to talk sense. He said that his team had started with a "kind of hangover" but then reacted with admirable dominance, control and motivation. "These are well-paid players. They have their luxuries, but there is an internal, intrinsic work-rate to them," he said. "They like to train and practise. Even if you have big contracts, this is basic. I'm very keen on this. If they had been under-motivated, there would have been a big fight. But that isn't the case here.

"I can be very proud of the team after what has happened. Not being in the European Cup final felt like a huge injustice for everyone in the team.

"It's very pleasant to work with these guys. They are real men who like to go and get the charge. We try now to go for second place."

Guardian Service