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Mark Hughes 'reasonably pleased' despite Stoke's defeat to Arsenal

Stoke boss Mark Hughes said he was "reasonably pleased" with his players' performance in a 3-1 defeat to an on-form Arsenal side on Saturday.

After Charlie Adam marked his 31st birthday with a penalty to put Stoke ahead, the Gunners came from behind with goals from Theo Walcott, Mesut Ozil and Alex Iwobi.

The result brought to an end a decent run of form for the Potters, but Hughes was largely happy with their efforts at the Emirates Stadium, a venue where he has endured worse days.

"I was reasonably pleased to a point," Hughes said. "I have brought teams here in the past and not got out of my own half. There have been very few occasions where we have created so many chances as we did against a very good Arsenal side.

"That is a positive on our part, we created some really good clear-cut chances, some in the first half and we got the penalty so we were 1-0 to the good which I thought was fine."

Arsenal levelled just before the break as Walcott swept home a low cross from Hector Bellerin, and Hughes suggested the result could have been different if Stoke had made it to half-time still in front.

"I don't think it was representative of how their half had panned out but clearly conceding just before half-time damaged us and allowed Arsenal to have a huge lift," Hughes said.

"I think if we had just managed to hold on, it would have made a difference.''

Information from Press Association Sport was used in this report.

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