Crystal Palace midfielder James McArthur admitted he may have gone down a little easy in the box at the weekend, but insisted he would never cheat.

The midfielder picked up a yellow card at the start of the second half of Saturday’s 2-1 win at Stoke City, when he went down in the box under pressure from Potters midfielder Charlie Adam.

Boss Alan Pardew, speaking on Sky Sports’ Goals on Sunday, reckoned his man should have been embarrassed with his tumble in the box.

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But McArthur, back in the Scotland squad preparing for clashes with Northern Ireland and Gibraltar over the next week, thought that while it did not look good, he was not the type of person to dive.

“I’ve watched it again and it doesn’t look like a penalty, if I’m honest,” he said. 

“It wasn’t a dive. I’ve gone down quite easily, but I’m not the type of person to drive really.

“It may look like a dive, but it’s not like I’ve gone down to try and cheat the other team.”