Arsene Wenger insists Alexandre Lacazette Arsenal 'goal' was not offside

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Tom Doyle19 August 2017

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger felt his side were wrongly denied a goal when Alexandre Lacazette was adjudged to have been offside in Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Stoke.

Stoke were leading in the second half after Jese Rodriguez's Premier League debut goal two minutes after half-time, though Arsenal thought they had gone level after 72 minutes through Lacazette.

Substitute Olivier Giroud flicked the ball through Stoke's defence for Lacazette to finish superbly past Jack Butland, but the assistant referee adjudged that the latter was marginally offside.

The call angered both Lacazette as well as Wenger on the touchline, and the Gunners fell to a tight defeat at the bet365 Stadium.

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Speaking after the game, Wenger told reporters: "I believe we scored a very regular goal that was given offside but was not offside.

"It is not offside, it is a very easy decision.

"It was a very frustrating evening because we had plenty of chances to score but we did not score.

"And on top of that we knew it was important not to make a defensive mistake, and then at the start of the second half we were sluggish and we paid a price."

Additional reporting by the Press Association.