Wenger hails Arsenal ability to deal with ‘direct’ Stoke

Arsene Wenger’s men – who have not won away at Stoke since 2010 – had lost on each of their last two visits to the Britannia Stadium. There was that part where Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain nearly managed to actually get a shot on frame, but other than that there really wasn’t a lot to say for the Arsenal strike force.

“You go around football grounds and hear some chanting I don’t like”, he added.

Either way, here are NBC’s highlights of yesterday’s match. “I don’t even know why the physical thing has been mentioned”. Or don’t! It won’t hurt my feelings, but at least they’re here.

Hector Bellerin has lauded Petr Cech as “probably the best goalkeeper” in the Premier League as he again touched on the confidence the 33-year-old instills in Arsenal’s defenders.

“Stoke wanted to surprise us by playing a very direct game and made it very physical”.

The Gunners arrived at Stoke with just one win in Staffordshire in the Premier League era for another instalment of a rivalry that was spawned by Wenger’s dislike of the Potters’ tactics under Tony Pulis.

We can only hope that the two dropped points against Stoke do not end up being the difference in the title race at the end of the season. “You see it in many countries now, more and more”, Wenger said.

He said: “I don’t think there was a yellow card, was there?”

Manchester City are a point behind the leading pair after they beat Crystal Palace 4-0 on Saturday, while Tottenham Hotspur complete the top four with 39 points following their 4-1 home win over Sunderland also on Saturday.

“I think the sooner we forget about these things the better, [otherwise] I think all you do is nearly keep it going”, he continued.

The playmaker arrived with a reputation as a winger when he signed on a free transfer from Barcelona in the summer, but has excelled in the middle – and he has been enjoying the style Mark Hughes has been implementing.

“We felt from the start we were up for the fight, physically.

Stoke have remarkable defensive discipline and they played very well”.

“But this is not something we would want our supporters to be doing”.

But he is happy with the consistent level of performance they have shown against the more-fancied teams as they have climbed to seventh in the Premier League.