Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has criticised his Manchester City counterpart Mark Hughes for his response to Emmanuel Adebayor’s stamp on Robin van Persie.

The Football Association have charged former Gunners striker Adebayor with violent conduct and City have until 6pm tonight to respond.

Match referee Mark Clattenburg has confirmed he would have sent the Togo star off for the challenge had he seen it clearly. But Wenger has been surprised by Hughes’ reaction to Adebayor’s behaviour — with the Eastlands boss appealing for his summer signing to be “cut a bit of slack”.

Recalling the challenge by Adebayor on Dutch star Van Persie, Wenger said: “I watched it when I got home and it looked very bad.

“You ask 100 people, 99 will say it’s very bad and the hundredth will be Mark Hughes.”

Adebayor is facing a three-match ban for violent conduct for the incident involving Van Persie, while he is likely to face an additional punishment for the celebration that followed his goal in City’s 4-2 win, when he ran the length of the pitch to celebrate in from of Arsenal’s travelling fans.

Referring to Adebayor, Wenger explained: “I was surprised there was so much animosity in his attitude towards Arsenal. In a few years I think he will realise just how good Arsenal were for him.

“I played football and I know exactly, in a fraction of a second, when you know your body well, where you leave your foot in or you pull out. You know exactly at that fraction, you can injure somebody or you cannot injure somebody and you ease off or you leave your foot in.”