Newcastle United 0 Arsenal 0: I have been hit harder at school, admits Barton after Arsenal draw

Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton has confessed to “being hit harder at school” than he was by Gervinho, but still insists the decision taken by referee Peter Walton to dismiss the Arsenal striker was the correct one.

The spat between the two players was the main talking point of the 0-0 draw between the two sides, with Barton pulling the Ivory Coast international from the ground to accuse him of diving to win a penalty.

Gervinho responded by slapping Barton, sending him to the floor, and was shown a red card on his debut for the Gunners.

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Barton last night admitted to being in the wrong for laying his hands on his opponent, although he maintained he was right to go down himself, even if he was not hurt.

He said: “I take responsibility for my actions and I shouldn’t have gone over and lifted Gervinho up by his shirt, that’s not the correct thing to do. I should have let the referee handle it.

“I can’t take responsibility for what Gervinho did. I did go down easily, I’ve been hit harder by people at school, but that’s not to make what he did right. He raised his hands, we all know the rules about that. I have made a meal of it.

“I pulled him from the floor because I felt he was trying to cheat me, my team-mates and my football club out of a point – a point that could be massive for us at the end of the season.

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“He’s actually struck me in the face, and my issue is, if I don’t go down, and it’s clear the officials didn’t see what went on exactly. If I don’t go down and he doesn’t get sent off, I’m making my own team suffer.”

Barton has rarely been far from controversy for too long during his career to date, and is currently at loggerheads with the Magpies’ hierarchy after criticising their summer recruitment policy in the wake of being told he will not be offered a new contract.

He was only included in Alan Pardew’s starting line-up after persuading his manager that he was fully focused on the game, and his response was typically committed in what was a scrappy opening game of the season.

It was he who was initially in the firing line when Alex Song stamped on him following an uncompromising challenge.

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Gunners boss Arsene Wenger insisted both men should have suffered the same fate and revealed his player had assured him he had not dived, but he conceded the striker, like some of his team-mates in the recent past, might have over-reacted.

He said: “Overall, I feel we have been very harshly punished.”