Arsene Wenger calls on Arsenal to be more ruthless

Arsene Wenger has criticised his Arsenal team for struggling to seal the deal earlier in the game against Stoke.

The Gunners required a late goal to make sure of the points against the Potters at the Emirates Stadium, but could have won by far more had they have taken their chances.

Theo Walcott found the net in the first-half, but the Gunners faithful were left reeling with a lack of clinical finishing despite their dominance.

Five minutes from time, Olivier Giroud scored to seal the three points - but Wenger insists the game should have been won earlier.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: "We had to wait to make sure of our victory but I thought our performance was convincing. In the first half our movement was outstanding and we created a lot.

"In the second half our pace dropped maybe a little bit in our passing but we continuously created chances and overall it was a strong performance.

"My only regret is that there is too big a difference between the number of chances we made and the number of goals we scored but that will come."

Following the 3pm kick-offs, Arsenal jumped up to second in the table, five points off leaders Manchester City.

The Gunners have now not lost since the opening day embarrassment against West Ham, but will be concerned about the lack of goals.

They have only found the net five times this season - with two of the strikes being own goals.