Stoke boss backed by McCarthy

Wolves boss Mick McCarthy has backed Stoke counterpart Tony Pulis over Arsene Wenger's blast that the Potters deliberately set out to injure Arsenal players.

Furious Gunners boss Wenger claimed that Bakari Sagna, Theo Walcott and Emmanuel Adebayor were deliberately crocked by Pulis' players Rory Delap and Ryan Shawcross in last week's stormy 2-1 win for Stoke.

Wenger likened the Stoke players to "cowards" but Pulis has defended his players and McCarthy has now joined the debate.

He said: "I won't get involved in other manager's arguments but all I will say is that Tony Pulis' teams are competitive.

"I've never had to complain about them being over-competitive, over-zealous or being nasty. I saw the game and that wasn't the case."

"We can't all play like Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal, so we have to use whatever attributes, skills or armoury we can.

"But I don't think Stoke were over the top."