Joe Allen laughed off his injury-time scrap with Troy Deeney as "nothing more than handbags" despite the two going face-to-face as Stoke edged past Watford on Saturday.

Hornets captain Deeney is facing potential retrospective action after putting his hands up around Allen's mouth after the pair had exchanged words in injury time of the 1-0 defeat, after the ball had been played out following an injury to Erik Pieters.

But Allen said after the match that there were no hard feelings between the players, who were both booked for their part in one of two fracas in the final minutes.

He said: “It was handbags really and there was nothing to it. I like Troy, he's one of the good guys, he's a really good player and it was nothing personal.

“We were clinging on at the end and expecting the ball back because we had a man down injured, they were chasing the equaliser and decided to play on.

“I was disappointed to get a yellow card because it means I'm now walking a bit of a tightrope, but these things happen and there wasn't really anything to it.

“He's a big guy and we were both laughing – I knew I was beaten in that situation, but I have a bit of a bad habit of picking the wrong fights.”