Pulis to speak to referee chief

STOKE manager Tony Pulis will speak to referees’ chief Keith Hackett after controversial comments made by Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.

Wenger claimed Ryan Shawcross and Rory Delap deliberately injured Emmanuel Adebayor and Theo Walcott when the teams clashed at the Britannia Stadium last weekend.

Pulis has rubbished the Frenchman’s remarks but believes there is a chance Stoke could be perceived to be a dirty side, especially in the mind of referees.

“I’ve left a message for Keith Hackett because I want to speak to him about Arsene’s comments and the possible implications,” said Pulis.

“Perception is a massive thing in football and I don’t want referees to take any notice of what Arsene has said. What he has come out with is way off the mark.

“We played at Manchester City a couple of weeks ago and didn’t get a single booking.

“What we certainly are is competitive but football is about challenge and competitiveness is not a dirty word in this country.

“I’m just going to tell Keith Hackett that I expect referees to act on what they see and not on what they hear.”

Pulis added: “For a person of Wenger’s calibre to say what he did was disappointing, but I also feel he has been very clever.

“His comments and the reaction they were bound to cause have deflected much of the criticism away from what was a very poor performance by his side.”

Theo Walcott and William Gallas are rated 50-50 for Arsenal’s critical Barclays Premier League clash with Manchester United tomorrow.

Walcott is struggling with a shoulder injury while Gallas is doubtful with a hamstring problem and a decision on both players will be made in the next 24 hours.

“We will not know about Walcott and Gallas before tomorrow afternoon. It is 50:50 for both,” Wenger said.

Meanwhile, Kolo Toure has warned Arsenal’s critics they should not be ruled out of the title race so early in the season.

“Beating Manchester United would definitely turn things around for us,” he said. “A win would be really fantastic for us and would show that we’d be there for the title. But it’s not a must-win, it’s just another game.

“We know that the Premier League is really long, we are not in the second half yet.

“We just need to take it as a really important game and show United and those big clubs that we are there to fight for the title.”