Premiership: Henry ban hits Gunners title bid

Arsene Wenger today claimed the Football Association have jolted Arsenal’s title bid by banning Thierry Henry for an offence countless other players have got away with.

The Gunners’ Barclaycard Premiership championship charge was rocked as the 28-goal striker was found guilty of improper conduct for his extraordinary outburst at referee Graham Poll after the final whistle of the Gunners’ 3-1 defeat against Newcastle on December 18.

Henry had to be restrained by team-mates and police officers and was last night suspended for three domestic fixtures and ordered to personally pay the costs of the three-man disciplinary commission hearing.

But his manager claimed the French international had been harshly done by.

Wenger, who was with Henry at the FA disciplinary hearing at the Meridian Excelsior Hotel at Heathrow, west London, said: ‘‘Thierry Henry has a very good disciplinary record.

‘‘We hoped for a suspended ban because he didn’t touch the referee and if you look at the tape, you can see he didn’t insult the referee at all.

‘‘If you look at Thierry’s case, you could say he could be suspended, but I’ve seen people touching and insulting referees.

‘‘I have seen incidents on the field when players have got off with much worse than Thierry and that’s why it’s quite difficult to accept he got suspended for three games at this time of the season.’’

Wenger also vowed the FA’s verdict would spur on his side’s campaign to claim the Premiership crown.

He blasted the ‘‘very harsh’’ verdict and admitted he favours an appeal against the suspension, which will start on March 21 if there is no protest.

The ban will rule Henry out of the Highbury league dates with West Ham on March 23 and Sunderland on March 30, as well as the clash at Charlton two days later.

Henry will not miss Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final at Newcastle and the Premiership game at Aston Villa on March 17 but Wenger was in no mood to be grateful for the 24-year-old’s availability for the cup tie.

He spoke of the siege mentality of his side already strengthened by a rash of red cards during his reign and raged: ‘‘The suspension is very harsh and I’m very disappointed.

‘‘Now we’ll give ourselves a bit of time and think about an appeal. No definite decision is clear in my mind but I would rather say yes than no.

‘‘We’re used to bad times and this will not stop us, I tell you. This decision reinforces our desire and belief we can win the championship, although of course, I would rather we did it with Thierry Henry.’’

The FA issued a statement after their three-man disciplinary board consisting of commission chairman Barry Bright, Colchester chairman Peter Hurd and Ron Barston, of the Leicestershire County FA found Henry guilty in the two-hour meeting.

The release read: ‘‘Thierry Henry has been found guilty of improper conduct and will be suspended for three matches from March 21. He will also be responsible for the costs of the hearing.’’

Wenger backed the FA’s clampdown on misbehaviour but explained also his anger over a match in which Henry lost his temper.

‘‘I think the FA’s intention to clean up the game is very good,’’ he said.

‘‘You would expect them to treat everybody fairly, and we defended our case in a fair way.

‘‘But you must accept our frustration with that game. We paid the price twice as we should not have lost the game, and now we will miss Thierry Henry as well.’’

The Highbury chief also launched an assault on the media, claiming the huge hype over Henry’s rant led to him being charged by the FA.

‘‘When you are at a big club in a big city like we are, you are sometimes singled out because of the media,’’ he added.

‘‘That is a price we have to pay and we accept that. However, this case was judged out of context.

‘‘I feel one or two TV stations single out players if they are caught on camera and then show it all day on TV.

'‘Then, suddenly, there’s pressure on FA and the player gets charged when nobody spoke about it before. It’s not the FA that charges the player it’s television.’’