• Premier League

Wenger: Arsenal too soft in Stoke defeat

Arsene Wenger says Arsenal were inexperienced at the back © Getty Images

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Arsene Wenger has accused his Arsenal players of being "soft" as they once again came unstuck against Stoke at the Britannia Stadium.

Arsenal have won only one of their last nine games at Stoke, and saw a run of three straight victories end in a 3-2 Premier League defeat on Saturday.

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

Arsene Wenger criticised the referee's decision to send off Calum Chambers © PA Photos

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"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.

"I think we were a bit inexperienced at the back - we couldn't play [Laurent] Koscielny or [Nacho] Monreal and we were altogether maybe a bit soft to cope with what they offered us."

Arsenal were on the back foot almost immediately with Peter Crouch scoring the fastest Premier League goal of the season when he stroked the ball home just 19 seconds into the match.

Bojan Krkic added a second in the 35th minute and Jonathan Walters slammed home a third just before half-time - a goal Wenger felt should have been chalked off for a foul by Crouch.

Stoke thought they had scored a fourth in the 65th minute, but Bojan's effort was belatedly ruled out when referee Anthony Taylor ruled Mame Biram Diouf had blocked goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez's view from an offside position.

Within five minutes it was 3-2, Santi Cazorla scoring a penalty before Aaron Ramsey grabbed a second to give Arsenal hope.

The visitors pushed for an equaliser but their cause was not helped when Calum Chambers was sent off 12 minutes from time, picking up a second yellow card for pulling Bojan.

"It was a bad decision," said Wenger. "If Chambers has to go off today, I can find five more players that should go off."

Wenger did not name names but talked about "players who put arms and elbows in faces".

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd