Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong attempts to play down Twitter racism row

The 21-year-old had said if he was 'white and English' he would get into the Gunners side

Emmanuel Frimpong trains with Arsenal last week (GETTY IMAGES)

Emmanuel Frimpong has passed off his Twitter remark that if was “white and English” he would be in the Arsenal side to face Chelsea on Tuesday night as a joke, and the club will not punish the midfielder for his comment.

Ahead of the Capital One Cup fourth round fixture, Frimpong was asked by one of his 684,000 followers why he was not in the squad, the Ghanaian midfielder replied: “LOL I wanna laugh”, and then added: “Sometimes I wish I was white and English #realtalk.”

The 21-year-old quickly deleted the tweet, and it is understood Arsenal will remind Frimpong of his responsibilities, but not punish the midfielder, who later tried to clarify his position, writing on the site on Monday evening: “Not every tweet is football related Goosh. ”

“Look what ever you read tomorrow has been twisted. Is a joke what people will do to start controversy goodnight people.”

He will also not face any action from the Football Association, which fined him £6,000 last year for branding a Tottenham supporter “scum y**” on Twitter.

The omission of Frimpong, who has started three Premier League matches for the club, from the Gunners’ squad had been revealed earlier on Monday, with manager Arsene Wenger stating that the player was not in the squad because “he is still short of competition”.