West Brom striker Jay Rodriguez won't start 'rolling around' despite being denied a penalty at Arsenal

The Baggies striker, who was clipped by Shkrodan Mustafi in the opening 10 minutes last night, says he won’t stay down unless he is genuinely injured.

Rodriguez got back to his feet when the penalty wasn’t given at the Emirates Stadium and had a shot tipped brilliantly onto the post by Gunners goalkeeper Petr Cech.

And the summer signing insists he will never shy away from a goalscoring opportunity.

“I felt contact,” said Rodriguez. “I obviously went down and I was waiting for the foul to be given.

“It wasn’t given, so I got back up because I wasn’t injured, I wasn’t hurt. I had the chance to score, and Cech made a good save.

“If I see the goal and I’ve got a good chance to score, I’m not going to stay down and I’m not going to shy away from it. I want to score as many goals as I can.

“For me it was a penalty – but you get them, and you don’t. It’s obviously disappointing.”

Baggies boss Tony Pulis was fuming with Alexis Sanchez after the game and branded the Arsenal forward a ‘cheat’ for diving to win a free-kick on the edge of the box.

He says he doesn’t teach his own players simulation, and bombed Callum McManaman out of the team two seasons ago when he decided he had dived against Southampton.

Rodriguez also confirmed it was not something he would ever do – and Monday night’s injustice has done nothing to change his mind.

“I’m not going to be rolling round and trying to win free-kicks if it’s not a free-kick,” said the former Southampton and Burnley man. “I think I’m honest and I’ll always be like that.”

The 28-year-old has two goals so far this season, but he looked dangerous in a front two alongside Hal Robson-Kanu and might have had a hat-trick on another day.

As well as hitting the post, he had a header cleared off the line by Nacho Monreal and went close on two other occasions in the first half.

Even though it was early on, Rodriguez believes being awarded the penalty would have changed the outcome of the game.

“It’s difficult when it’s 0-0,” he said. “If you do get that and you get the goal, you’re 1-0 up and it changes the game. There’s a decision there to be made, and it’s just one of those things.

“It’s a disappointing result. The lads worked extremely hard and we had some great chances.”