Blackburn Rovers Winger Pedersen Refutes 'Diving' Claims

Blackburn Rovers winger Morten Gamst Pedersen has brushed off suggestions that he was blatantly cheating during Saturday's 4-0 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates, when he tripped himself up in the penalty area and then appeared to appeal to the referee for a spot-kick.

However, the Norway international has denied today that he was appealing for a penalty, and has instead stated that he was merely confused after taking the unexpected tumble when one of his heels caught the other, as he was running through the Arsenal box, away from Gunners defender Bacary Sagna.

"It wasn't a penalty and that's not what I was after," Sky Sports News reports him as telling Nettavisen.

"If you see the pictures, you can see that my legs hit each other and I fall. The heel hits the leg, and I fall face down. There were many thoughts that went through my head, then and there. I was frustrated and maybe waved a bit with my arms.

"But it was definitely not a penalty, and I told that to Sagna later as well."

And Pedersen concluded by pointing out that the referee had not awarded him a yellow card, clear proof that the match official agreed with his assessment of the situation.

"The referee came up to me straight afterwards, and I am counting on that he would have given me a card if he had thought that I was trying to dive,"  he added.

"As I said, I wasn't trying to cheat [to win] a penalty. And it was correct that I didn't get one."

Zack Wilson, Goal.com