Mark Hughes has expressed his belief that Stoke City's performance in their 3-2 Premier League win over Arsenal was as good as he has seen since his appointment.

Peter Crouch scored inside 20 seconds as the Potters raced into a three-goal half-time lead thanks to further strikes from Bojan and Jonathan Walters.

Goals from Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey after the break put Stoke under late pressure, but they had already done enough, and Hughes was delighted that his "outstanding" side were more clinical than usual.

"We put in an outstanding performance. The first half was as good as we've played since I came here," he told reporters.

"On other occasions we've played well, but not created the chances you need to put away. At 3-0 we were good value for it."

The victory was Stoke's fifth against the Gunners in their last eight meetings at the Britannia Stadium.