Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger accused his side of being too soft as they once again came unstuck against Stoke at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday.

Wenger said: “Stoke started strong and we were not decisive enough in our defensive challenges.

“It gave them an early good present and after that they put a lot of energy into the game. In the second half we had good opportunities to come back and we couldn’t.”

Stoke boss Mark Hughes said he was pleased to bag all three points, but criticised some decisions.

“It should have been 4-0, I’m really disappointed with the decision of the referee to chalk off an outstanding individual goal by Bojan.

“By all accounts he’s said Diouf was interfering with play.

“Those things are big decisions and need to be correctly called. That puts a spring in their step and all of a sudden we’re looking at 3-2 and we’re hanging on when the game should have been dead and buried.”