Wenger: Stoke deliberately injured my players
Both were hurt by tackles during the Potters’ 2-1 win at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday and will miss tonight’s Champions League clash against Fenerbahce at the Emirates Stadium.
Walcott has a chance of recovering from a shoulder injury in time for the visit of Manchester United on Saturday but Adebayor is unlikely to be able to face the champions.
Wenger said: “I read that my team were not brave. All I can say is they are brave and, for me, you need to have more courage to play football when you know that someone is tackling you from behind without any intention to play the ball.
“The only intention is to hurt you and I can show some tackles where I can prove what I say. The one who is tackling is not the brave one. For me the brave one is the player who is trying to play football.
“It happened at the weekend. Do you think Delap tried to play the ball when he tackled Walcott? Or that Shawcross tried to play the ball when he tackled Adebayor off the pitch. All the players have been injured deliberately. I am not ready to listen to things that are untrue and make people who are cowards, for me, look brave.”
However Stoke hit back at Wenger’s comments last night. Potters chairman Peter Coates said: “I am really very disappointed in what he (Wenger) has said.
“That wasn’t the game I saw, it wasn’t the game the fans at the ground saw and it wasn’t the game that the referee saw. I really am disappointed in him and I couldn’t really disagree with him more.
“There was only one player who got sent off in that match and that was an Arsenal player (Robin Van Persie).
“Things happen in football, we don’t have nasty players in the team who go out to injure players and we don’t want that.” I’m not going to get involved in a slanging match with Arsenal, I just profoundly disagree with what he (Wenger) has said.”
Wenger has fewer worries in the Champions League as his side are top of Group G having beaten Fenerbahce 5-2 in Istanbul following a four-goal demolition of Porto in north London.
The Frenchman was keen to wrap up qualification to the next stage as quickly as possible so he could concentrate on keeping his best players ready for Premier League action.
He said: “I believe that once you qualify in the Champions League you can be completely focused and if needed, rest some players in the Champions League.
“That is why for us, it is important to qualify as quickly as possible, especially as we didn’t win our last game.’’
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