The Blues boss has acknowledged that the superb game produced many talking points both on and off the field.
“There has been much discussion over the weekend regarding the various incidents in Saturday’s game which is understandable,” said the manager.
“Emmanuel Adebayor sustained a tremendous amount of personal abuse from the kick-off but strongly maintains that there was no malice intended in the challenge on Robin Van Persie and apologised to him when he hugged him on leaving the field of play at the end of the game.
“The referee had a great view of the challenge from Ade and the one that preceeded it by Van Persie and deemed at the time that neither were worthy of either a yellow or red card.
As for Ade’s emotionally charged goal celebration, which has also prompted debate, there have been similar such celebrations in recent times.
...Mark Hughes
“We expect high standards of behaviour from our players and it is easy in the cold light of day, when the adrenalin has died down, to talk about what players should and shouldn’t do in that situation. Ade again immediately apologised but we know the FA will be reviewing the matter.”
