Stoke City chairman Peter Coates concedes that there is bad blood between his club and Arsenal heading into Saturdays game at the Britannia Stadium.
He knows that both the players and fans will be prepared for a Premier League match that the Potters Have won two times drawn twice and lost only once.
No one it appears in Staffordshire has forgotten Arsene Wenger’s remarks comparing Stoke City to a rugby team that has kept a dislike of Arsenal simmering on the back burner.
There is also the on-going feud with Ryan Swawcross after his tackle on Aaron Ramsey four years ago that left the Welsh international with a broken leg that has not been forgotten by the Arsenal faithful.
When being interviewed ahead of this weekend’s match by the Stoke Sentinel newspaper Coates said: “Yes, we have got this thing with Arsenal.
“We were very disappointed with how the Shawcross incident was treated because we thought there was never any intent whatsoever on Ryan’s part.
“We thought he was very badly treated over that incident in various quarters and it was wholly unfair on him.
“Players get bad injuries all the time in professional football and in the vast majority of cases there is no blame to be attached, but Ryan seemed to be unfairly singled out over this one, in my opinion.”
Shawcross has meanwhile moved on from the incident and continues to lead the club while Ramsey before his latest injury was playing some of the best football of his career at Arsenal.
Meanwhile the Stoke Chairman is delighted in the form of Nigerian striker Peter Odemwingie following his move from Cardiff City that saw Kenwyne Jones move the other way in a swap deal.
Coates said: “I think all our supporters will have seen what I have seen, and that is a player who is playing well for us and who has given us something different.
“He seems to have integrated well into the group, and his performances speak for themselves. They have been very good.
“He has shown he is prepared to work hard for the team, and that is another facet of his game which has helped to improve us.”
Coats however denies that a deal was done just to get rid of Jones adding: “We tried to get him last summer, but he decided to go to Cardiff, so we always rated him. We were disappointed then, but now we are delighted to have got him into the club.”
