Arsène Wenger
Wenger - Stoke game is not about revenge
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By Nick Teale
Arsène Wenger says his side wants to beat Stoke on Saturday - but not because they have lost on their previous two visits to the Britannia Stadium.
The manager has also noted that the Potters have improved the technical aspects of their game over the course of this campaign.
The Gunners suffered a 2-1 away defeat to Tony Pulis' side in the Premier League last season, and they slipped to a 3-1 reverse in the FA Cup Fourth Round last month.
However, Wenger insists that those defeats are not the motivation for his side to overcome the hosts on Saturday evening.
"It is a game we want to win and that is not necessarily linked with what happened before," he said.
"It is just linked with how we cancel their strong points, and as well how strongly we perform on Saturday.
"You know Stoke have scored 15 goals from set-pieces, 14 at home and the 14 at home a big part is down to their long throws.
"But it is a team who plays football as well, I have seen them recently in the games and they have a good mixture between that efficiency and their play. I believe technically it is a team that has improved tremendously since last season."
Speaking about January's FA Cup exit at Stoke, Wenger conceded that the better team were victorious on the day.
"Stoke on the day were better than us," he admitted. "Don't forget when we put the experienced players on the pitch it was 1-1 and we still lost the game.
"We have a good opportunity to prove we can be better than them on Saturday."
[Thursday, February 25, 2010]
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