Arsene Wenger: There is no bad blood between Arsenal and Stoke

Alexis Sanchez scored twice for Arsenal against Stoke in January

ARSENAL boss Arsene Wenger has insisted there is no bad blood between his players and Stoke.

 

The Potters arrive at the Emirates on Saturday after a summer which has seen them sign several players including former Bayern Munich and Inter Milan star Xherdan Shaqiri.

Games between the two clubs in the past have been fiesty affairs and in the corresponding fixture, Mathieu Debuchy suffered a disclocated shoulder following a push by Marko Arnautovic.

 

But Wenger was full of praise for Mark Hughes' side and dismissed claims of bad blood. 

"For me there was never bad blood, it was just a game that was always very difficult for us to play," Wenger said.

 

"But I always focus on playing football and trying to get my team to play as well as we can.

"They are team with a good culture of the Premier League, they know how to behave and they have experience.

"They have been here a long time in the Premier League. They have improved their technical quality as they have Afellay, Bojan, Shaqiri, Diouf up front and Charlie Adam in midfield. They have a lot of technical players that can give you problems."