Alex McLeish in van Persie elbow claim

Published Nov 7, 2016

Last updated Jan 30, 2012

Alex McLeish today hit out at the decision to allow an elbow from Robin van Persie on Carlos Cuellar to go unpunished in Villa's FA Cup exit to Arsenal.

Van Persie scored twice from the penalty spot for the Gunners as Villa slipped to a 3-2 fourth-round defeat at the Emirates Stadium having led 2-0 thanks to Richard Dunne and Darren Bent.

But the Dutch international arguably should have been given his marching orders in the 64th minute – three minutes after scoring Arsenal's third - when he appeared to strike the Spanish defender with his elbow.

Referee Michael Jones missed the incident and had Arsenal been forced to play the remainder of the game with 10 men it might have yielded a different outcome.

"I thought it was an elbow in the face. I thought it was a clear elbow. But the referee didn't seem to think there was anything in it," said the Villa boss.

"The big man is not a guy to lie down. He got up pretty quickly.

"If it was an elbow in the face of Carlos, I would like it looked at. Look at my nose, it's the result of elbows throughout my career! It's dangerous. I don't like to point the finger but it's happened to me enough times.

"Overall it was a great FA Cup game but I am very disappointed not see it out. It was a missed opportunity, definitely."

The Villa boss is hopeful that Marc Albrighton and James Collins will both be fit for the visit of QPR on Wednesday having missed the match through injury.

"They picked up knocks in training and it was disappointing to lose them on the eve of the game," said McLeish.