Arsene Wenger insists negativity of last season has not returned to Arsenal after Stoke defeat

Arsène Wenger insisted that an air of negativity has not returned to Arsenal after witnessing his side suffer their first defeat of the new Premier League season at Stoke City on Saturday.

Wenger’s side were beaten 1-0, thanks to a goal by Stoke debutant Jese Rodriguez, though Arsenal’s record signing Alexandre Lacazette saw a strike controversially ruled out for offside.

When asked whether the disappointment of an early defeat would erase the optimism brought on by May’s FA Cup triumph, which led to a new two-year contract for Wenger, the Arsenal manager stressed that it was too soon for such claims.

“Let's not go overboard. We lost one game,” he said. “I can understand [the concern] but there were a lot of positives in the game as well. We created a lot of chances, had great domination and unfortunately, we dropped three points.”

Arsenal dominated for large spells at the bet365 Stadium but failed to convert their chances and were regularly thwarted by Stoke goalkeeper Jack Butland, who put on an inspired display.

Despite being critical of “stupid mistakes centrally” while attempting to explain the defeat, Wenger also claimed that his attacking players should take a portion of the blame having failed to find an equaliser.

“Overall in pre-season, centrally we did quite well. When you lose a game you lose a game, but we did not only lose only today because of bad defending,” he said.

“When you have the number of chances we had away from home and you don't score, you can always complain on offence and defence.”