Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger criticised the ref's handling of the early part of the game, where Vieira in particular was subjected to some heavy fouling by Keane and Paul Scholes, but chairman Peter Hill Wood praised the ref for treating it like "a man's game". And it does seem that once again Poll has let common sense prevail. While no-one could condone Vieira's shove on Keane, or the way he nuzzled both Keane and Stam (a "head-butt", as described in many papers, it was not), there was plenty of worse stuff going on out there and it would have been another case of a player being condemned for being a) French b) Arsenal and c) Patrick Vieira, if Paddy had been singled out. See soccernet.

Also David Beckham looks like he'll escape trouble for continued trouble with opposition fans. He flicked a V-sign at Leeds fans the previous weekend but FA man David Davies defended the decision not to charge him by saying he'd have to be a saint not to react to some of the things that were chanted at him. (I'm not sure I'd want him charged but is this a sensible reason to give, precedent-wise?).

And although 2 Arsenal stewards reported Beckham for spitting at Arsenal fans during the Highbury encounter, the Mirror today reports that the club have decided not to report him, because of a lack of corroborating evidence from video and other stewards.