Arsenal hoping for leniency

No one seriously expects Martin Keown or Patrick Vieira to be elevated to a pedestal in the pantheon of footballing saints, though it is good for the sport when two such high-profile individuals hold their hands up and say: "It's a fair cop, guv!"

This is precisely what they have done, along with team-mates Ray Parlour, Ashley Cole and Lauren, in response to the Football Association charges following their demeaning misbehaviour at the end of the goalless draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford last month.

Although it's encouraging when the wrongdoers acknowledge their wrongs, there is, I suspect, a less noble cause behind this unusual mass admission of guilt from Highbury's marble halls.

A plea of not guilty would almost certainly prompt stiff penalties if the accused are indeed found guilty. However, a plea of guilty, perhaps with a request for mitigating circumstances to be taken into account, will almost certainly be looked upon more kindly by the FA.

The fact of the matter, of course, is that the TV scenes from Old Trafford that day were appalling and in football's present squalid climate the FA cannot afford to be seen treating player misbehaviour lightly.

Having faced up to their responsibilities, Arsenal will now seek leniency.

The violent behaviour charges against Keown and Lauren carry possible three-match suspensions. There is no fixed-penalty structure for the charge of "improper conduct" against Parlour, Cole and Vieira, but they won't be treated at severely as Keown or Lauren.

A one-match ban for each seems a likely outcome - Vieira has already received a one-match ban for his two yellow cards that day - - with Arsenal paying a fine for failing to ensure the proper behaviour of their players.

They were fined £50,000 and docked two league points for the involvement of their players in a 21-man brawl at Old Trafford 13 years ago. That, though, was a real punch-up. Jostling was about as violent as it got last month.

And, to be fair to Arsenal, the jostling was largely in response to provocation.

As Arsene Wenger said at the time: "We seem to punish the consequence rather than the cause of the problem."

I agree with his theory, but how he can possibly know is a mystery to me because he rarely sees the cause of the problem if his own players are involved.

We should nonetheless acknowledge that Arsenal have owned up. But we will be in a better position to judge the true depth of this act of contrition if the FA hand out suspensions to all five players.

This would mean all five being unavailable for the same match at least once next month - a selection headache that could be eased if Arsenal decided to gain 14 days grace by appealing against a couple of them.