Wenger sees the funny side

SOCCER:ARSENE WENGER was almost light-hearted in defeat following Arsenal's 3-1 loss at Stoke City in the FA Cup yesterday. His attitude reflected the fact his Arsenal side is heavily committed in the Premier League and Champions League.

With the score at 1-1 Wenger made a triple substitution in the 69th minute. He explained that he had wanted to avoid a replay. “I did it,” joked Wenger. “It worked.”

Such humour does not come readily to someone who admits that in his days as a young manager defeat made him physically sick.

The manager was pleased with the debut of the 35-year-old Sol Campbell in his second spell with Arsenal.

“For a guy who has not played for four months he had a good performance,” said Wenger.

“Maybe in the last 20 minutes he was a bit fatigued but he was surprisingly fit. He works very hard in training and you could see he is being rewarded.”

Campbell could not accept the outcome as easily as his manager.

“The pain doesn’t diminish, whether it was your first game or not,” he said. “It’s not nice to be knocked out of such a massive competition. But it was great to be playing again, rolling up your sleeves and getting stuck in.”

Stoke’s reward for their win in last night’s fifth-round draw was a trip to Manchester City with the Premier League’s bottom club Portsmouth given a tie with old adversaries Southampton.