Tony Pulis accuses Alexis Sanchez of 'cheating' as decisions go Arsenal's way in victory over West Brom

West Brom manager Tony Pulis accused Alexis Sanchez of being a 'cheat' following Arsenal’s hard-fought win over his side.

Sanchez went down in the opening minutes, after a challenge by Craig Dawson, with Pulis reacting furiously to the forward’s behaviour.

"Sanchez dived for the first free-kick - and that is cheating. We don't get any reward for being honest," Pulis said.

"It could have been the player [Shkodran Mustafi] sent off as well."

That was in reaction to referee Bobby Madley’s failure to award Albion a penalty, when the game was still goalless, after striker Jay Rodriguez was clearly fouled by Mustafi.

Pulis said: "Everyone has seen what happened today. Sanchez was first given a free-kick on the edge of the box, he actually dives and should be booked for diving.

“Then the ref has a great view and it's a stonewall penalty. The great thing is everyone has seen it so I don't need to talk about it.

"The player (Mustafi) could be sent off as well, so it would have been a penalty for us and then playing against 10 men.

"Sanchez falls over, it's cheating. Jay is honest and doesn't get anything from it."

Pulis added: "People say Rodriguez is too honest but we’ve not had a penalty in over a year now. I’m just glad everyone has seen it."

Rodriguez himself said: "I felt contact. I went down and expected the foul to be given but it wasn't so I got back up. I wasn't injured or hurt. For me it was a penalty."

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger argued that Madley had played advantage for the Albion penalty incident - although he admitted it would not have been a "scandal" had the spot-kick been awarded.

"The referee left the advantage and they nearly scored from that. They hit the post. The decision is defendable on both sides," Wenger said.

"Would (the West Brom penalty) have been given I would not have said it is a scandal. Looking at the decision again he made the right decision. You are never too honest. I believe he saw an opportunity he could score."