Arsenal manager sweats on injured trio after Stoke misery

November 2, 2008

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Arsene Wenger admitted that Arsenal are waiting on news of three 'very bad injuries' to Theo Walcott, Emmanuel Adebayor and Bacary Sagna after a disastrous 2-1 defeat at Stoke City.

Having thrown away a two-goal lead to draw 4-4 with Spurs in midweek, Arsenal suffered their third league loss of the season as goals from Ricardo Fuller and Seyi Olofinjana sealed the points for Stoke before Gael Clichy's injury-time consolation goal.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Dutch striker Robin van Persie faces a suspension after being sent off for throwing Stoke goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen to the turf.

But with Sagna and Adebayor both limping off with ankle knocks before England winger Theo Walcott was stretchered off with a suspected shoulder injury, Wenger conceded his main concern ahead of Wednesday's Champions League clash against Fenerbahce was the status of his injured trio.

“We have very bad injuries with Adebayor, Walcott and Sagna. One or two others have knocks, but it's the kind of thing that happens when you are less sharp. You become less agile and can get out of tackles less quickly,” he said.

“At this stage, we don't know how long they will be out. But Robin van Persie's red card was very, very harsh. If (Stoke defender) Andy Griffin does not get a yellow card in the game and Van Persie gets a red, then I have to review my rule book.

“He should not have done what he did, but I don't think it was a red card.”

Arsenal's failure to cope with Stoke's physical approach and the incredible throw-ins of midfielder Rory Delap, which led to both Stoke goals, contributed to their downfall.

And Wenger admitted that Tony Pulis's team were worthy winners at the Britannia Stadium.

“We were not sharp enough to create chances with the possession that we had, but they scored from two throw-ins and that was basically the game,” he said.

“They fought for every ball and were organised defensively. They waited for their set-pieces and, in the end, they won because we didn't create enough chances to score.

“Of course we had a plan to deal with the throw-ins, but when these balls come into the box, there is 20 people in there and it is difficult.

“It is not our greatest strength to deal with that and we were punished, but I feel that we were a bit unlucky as well.

“People who love the traditional English game must be very happy because they got what they like. It was a typical, traditional English game with a lot of fight and commitment on one side and, at the end of the day, Stoke deserved to win the game.”

Stoke, promoted last season, have now won three of their last four games — with all of the victories coming at the hostile Britannia Stadium — and Pulis admits that Delap's throw-ins are proving impossible for opponents to deal with.

Pulis said: “Delap's throws are so flat. They're not lofted in the air, so it's very difficult for the defenders to pick the ball up.

“It has caused all sorts of trouble. The publicity about them has helped because people are now worried to death even before he throws them in!

“Although teams are aware of it, we have scored a lot of goals from it and we still look dangerous, but that's because it is very difficult to stop them.

“Beating a big four team does give you a huge lift, but we play Wigan next week and that will be tough as well.

“We are playing against great players every week, so are on a different level, but the players have been brilliant.”

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