Stoke midfielder Charlie Adam has been charged with violent conduct by the Football Association following an incident with Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud.
Adam appeared to stand on the Frenchman's leg during the second half of Stoke's 1-0 victory over the Gunners at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday. The incident was not seen at the time by referee Mike Jones and his fellow match officials but it was caught on TV cameras and referred to a three-man panel of former elite referees to review.
"Charlie Adam has today been charged by The FA for violent conduct, following an incident with Arsenal's Olivier Giroud," said the FA in a statement. "For an FA charge to follow, all three panel members must agree it is a sending-off offense. In this instance, the panel were of the unanimous decision that it was an act of violent conduct."
Adam has until 6pm on Tuesday to respond to the charge but the Potters have already issued a statement saying they plan to fight verdict.
"The Club have learnt within the last hour that The FA have chosen to charge Charlie Adam following an incident involving Olivier Giroud in Saturday's Barclays Premier League game against Arsenal. Charlie and the Club are surprised and disappointed to learn of this and will appeal vigorously against the decision."
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger - whose side have won only once in seven visits to the Britannia Stadium in all competitions since Stoke's promotion to the top flight in 2008, and who has in the past accused the Staffordshire outfit of employing "rugby" tactics - spoke after the game about the hosts making it "very physical".
And Nzonzi said: "We know that Arsenal are a very technical team that play good football, and when you start kicking them a little bit, it gets a little bit harder for them. They don't like that, we know that. It's not a surprise they have been moaning because they have plenty of technical players."
