Saturday 10 December 2016 19:07, UK
Mark Hughes admitted the better side won after Stoke were beaten 3-1 by Arsenal on Saturday.
The Potters, who have now lost on their last 15 visits to Arsenal, took the lead in the 23rd minute when Charlie Adam converted a penalty.
But the Gunners replied with goals from Theo Walcott, Mesut Ozil and Alex Iwobi to secure victory.
"We stumbled today but we have been on a good run," Hughes told Sky Sports.
"On another day you never know with the chances we created; we might have got a positive result. But it's fair to say they were the better side.
"I thought we did OK for most parts of the game, especially in the first half when we caused them a number of problems.
"We set up a bit differently and initially that caused them a bit of a problem and created a number of clear-cut chances which, in previous visits here, we have struggled to do. That was an improvement.
"We were good value for a 1-0 lead but then made a mistake to give them an equaliser just before half-time. That was a disappointment and probably hurt us more than we realised at the time."
Even after falling 2-1 behind, Stoke had chances to equalise, with Mame Diouf heading wide from a good position and substitute Peter Crouch seeing a header well saved by Petr Cech.
"Once you go behind to Arsenal it becomes more difficult because you chase the game and they are quite adept at countering," said Hughes.
"We kept going and had chances, it could have gone our way but they are a very good side and lots of teams lately have struggled to keep them at bay.
"I thought we did OK in that regard and maybe the three goals is a bit harsh on us."
Hughes, though, did take some positives from the display: "We have come here in the past and got plenty of people behind the ball, tried to block things out and not really enjoyed that experience and got beat anyway.
"We looked at it a bit more positively…but it's always going to be difficult against the quality they have. We take the positives, there were a number of areas we can improve on and we have big away games coming up so we have to be ready and can use this experience to help us."
