Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will serve a three-match touchline ban after being charged by the Football Association over a confrontation with Mike Dean following Sunday’s draw at West Brom.

The FA also fined Wenger £40,000 for the incident, in which the Frenchman is alleged to have verbally abused Dean in his changing room and questioned his integrity.

Wenger has repeatedly criticised the Premier League’s refereeing standards this season, and served a four-match touchline ban last year after an altercation with fourth official Anthony Taylor following another late penalty against his team.

After he was charged in the Dean incident, Wenger also spoke out against the referees after calling Chelsea’s penalty at the Emirates “farcical.” He has been asked by the FA to provide observations about those comments.

At a news conference earlier on Friday, Wenger said he “100 percent” stood by his criticism of the officials.

“I’m in England for 21 years, I try to serve this game with honesty and integrity and when I have something to say I will say it,” he said. “On that front, nothing will change. Never.”

Wenger is now set to miss Sunday’s FA Cup game at Nottingham Forest, the first leg of the Carabao Cup semifinal against Chelsea on Wednesday, and the Premier League trip to Bournemouth on Jan. 14.

He was invited to his former Monaco player George Weah’s presidential inauguration in Liberia, and said before the punishment came down: “Maybe if I’m suspended I will have time to go.”

Source: espn.co.uk

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