Wenger: Stoke goal should have stood

Last updated : 10 January 2005 By Rob Stanway
City were very unlucky to not force a reply with Arsenal. Chris Greenacre had one of his shots cleared off the line, Ade Akinibyi not only hit the crossbar but also had a goal disallowed. Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger concedes that the goal should have stood.

"I've seen it again and, for me, there was not a lot wrong, It was a bit of a strong shoulder charge but that's acceptable.

Although he felt he had to add: "Senderos stopped because the referee had blown early so I don't know if he would still have scored.

Of course he would Arsene, thats Ade Akinbiyi your talking about!

"You had everything you needed for a good Cup game," said Wenger.

"Stoke came here, defended well, relied on Ade Akinbiyi, and he gave our defenders a hard time.

"Overall that Stoke did very well, we did well, and it was an interesting game. We just had enough quality to slip through."

"The turning points went for us because we had one or two situations in the second half where they could have scored a goal.
"But overall I feel we had so much possession, and we looked always like we could score in the second half" he concluded.