Mark Hughes praises Arsenal's "pace and power"

Stoke City manager Mark Hughes has praised Arsenal's performance at the Emirates this afternoon after the Gunners claimed a 3-1 win over his side to move top of the league.

The Potters had led through a controversial first-half penalty but Arsenal struck back with goals from Theo Walcott, Mesut Ozil and Alex Iwobi to claim all three points and extend their unbeaten league run to 14 games.

"We created a number of good opportunities when in previous years we have struggled to even get shots on goal here. We had a number of good moments even before the penalty," Hughes told reporters afterwards.

"I thought [Joe Allen] got sideswiped and was in possession of the ball in the box, my initial thought was it was a penalty. We stood up to them and maybe conceding the equaliser before half time lifted them and hurt us more than we thought.

"We had to push the game and look for opportunities at the other end - a lot of teams will struggle to come here and cope with the pace and power Arsenal have at the moment. You have to take it on the chin and go again."

The result leaves Stoke, who had lost just one of their previous nine league games, 10th in the table.