Former Premier League ref Graham Poll has branded Tottenham star Gareth Bale a diver after yesterday's performance at Arsenal. Reflecting on Arsenal's 5-2 win, Poll wrote in his column for the Daily Mail: "What a great game of football and thank goodness it wasn't spoilt by an unsporting act by Gareth Bale.

"In such games, and perhaps all games, it is always advisable only to give 'stonewall' penalty kicks and no doubt, at full speed and from his angle (ref Howard) Dean felt sure enough to give Tottenham their penalty after 34 minutes when Bale went down attempting to go past Wojciech Szczesny in the Arsenal goal.

"If it was a foul it should have been a red card for the keeper and perhaps Dean had doubts over the accuracy of his decision and left him on the pitch.

"Replays showed that Bale had not been fouled but I would not blame Dean for being fooled; rather look at the conduct of Bale and plead that the FA introduce retrospective punishment for diving."