Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew has slammed referee Lee Mason after he failed to send off Arsenal midfielder Francis Coquelin, despite the Frenchman making a flurry of bad challenges in their 2-1 win over Palace.

During the post match news conference, Pardew admitted he spoke to the referee at half time:

“I had a chat with Lee in the tunnel [at half-time] and we agreed that he shouldn’t have been sent off – you don’t want that.”

“But I said, ‘That’s his last chance – he can’t afford to make another challenge,’ and he did. But [Mason] didn’t make the call. He should have been sent off.”

“Our bench thought he should have gone. Their bench did too, so taking him off was a natural reaction. The foul just before half-time was debatable, a cynical challenge, but give people the benefit of the doubt. But you can’t make another one.”

Francis Coquelin was booked for a foul on Yannick Bolasie in the first half, and went onto make 1 or 2 similar challenges that would’ve probably merited a yellow card.

However, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger disagrees:

“He didn’t deserve a yellow card, but the pressure was on to get him sent off,” the Arsenal boss said. “I had thought about it at half-time, when the pressure was already there. After the last foul I thought there was not much room now.”

“Every time he intervened, the crowd were behind it and putting pressure on the referee. I didn’t like to take him off after 60 minutes, but I didn’t have much room.”

[All quotes via ESPN]