Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has denied a charge of improper conduct and/or bringing the game into disrepute.

The charge relates to his media comments about one of the assistant referees in the Carling Cup final on February 23rd.

Wenger has requested a personal hearing which will be scheduled in due course.

He was asked to explain his claim "the whole system is not honest", in reference to the disciplinary procedures of the FA, and suggestions the assistant referee "lied" in his report over the brawl which marred the final, which Chelsea won 2-1.

Arsenal trio Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Adebayor and Emmanuel Eboue were punished following the Millennium Stadium melee — something the Frenchman found hard to take.

Wenger said: "I am not subtle enough maybe to master it completely, but when the truth does not come out you call it as you want. A mistake, a lie, I do not know. It is not the truth. The FA have one responsibility, it is to respect football.

"If you tomorrow are manager of Arsenal and you can prove Adebayor intended not to punch [Frank] Lampard would you say 'yes he intended that, thank you very much, the FA are so big, three games, no six? Okay.

"I can say what I think. They can put me up on the wall and shoot me down, but it still does not make that decision right. If they do not like my words, then they do not like it. I will never change.

"Would you like to see me with a dictionary after the game and think 'oh no, what is a little bit too strong, what is the synonym of that word because I could be punished by the FA?"

Togo striker Adebayor was sent off following a consultation between referee Howard Webb and his assistant. A subsequent appeal for wrongful dismissal failed. PA