Stoke vs. Arsenal Official Preview

Hello Towards the end of last season I did a series of preview articles looking ahead to fixtures, and I'm going to do the same again this season. My last one got swamped under the massive traffic of RvP articles last week, so please take a read for a unique and very biased preview

Stoke vs. Arsenal

Competition: Barclays Premier League
Date: 26/08/2012
Kick-Off Time: 13.30
Venue: The Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent


Arsenal Preview

So, it seems the doom mongers are out in force following an insipid opening day draw against Sunderland, the sale of our part-time CDM Song to Barca and our 'failure' to land Sahin. The first two have been discussed in much detail, whilst we didn't fail to get Sahin, we pulled out because it was getting too expensive and we're not as desperate as Liverpool. He's a fantastic player but in terms of what we currently need I'd prefer a permanent DM. M'Vila, Capoue and Tiote have all been mooted, whilst I'd love to see us go for Fellaini, though the price would probably bee too high, he's exactly what we need IMO.

But enough about transfers, because we have the perennially tough away game at Stoke to deal with. Luckily it's in August on a Sunday rather than a cold February night, but they will still employ all the usual roughing-up tactics. This is where the defence really need to earn their coin, and I anticipate, despite the return to fitness of Koscielny, a partnership of Vermaelen, for the aggression, and Mertesacker, for the height, which we'll need against Crouch. Jenkinson will probably continue at right-back, with Gibbs at left-back. Further forward, we'll probably see the same midfield three, possibly with Ramsey ahead of Diaby who might be withdrawn from duty to prevent him from being broken, and Cazorla will be right in the firing line as the most advanced midfielder. Wenger's comments last week suggest that he will change the front 3 around, perhaps introducing Giroud, which could be at any of the previous front 3's expense.

Expect a battle




Previous meeting:

Stoke City 1-1 Arsenal
Crouch 9 Him 16

Last Games:

Arsenal 0-0 Sunderland

Reading 1-1 Stoke

Form Smileygram

- win - draw - loss

Arsenal: - 1/3 points CRISIS RELEGATION WENGER OUT!!!
Stoke: - 1/3 points A half decent start all things considered

The Lukivier Giroulski smileygram

- 0 goals - 1 goal - 2 goals - hat-trick

Last 6 games:

Overall: 2 goals in 2 games

Top Scorers last season

Arsenal:

1. Theo Walcott - 10
2=. Mikel Arteta, Thomas Vermaelen - 6
3. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - 5

Stoke City :
1. Peter Crouch - 14
2. Jonathan Walters - 11
3. Cameron Jerome - 8

Injuries and Suspensions

Arsenal Injured:
Sagna (leg)
Wilshere (ankle)
Rosicky (ankle)
Oxlade-Chamberlain (calf, test)
Koscielny needs a fitness test
Frimpong (knee)

Stoke Injured:
Pennant (thigh)


Likely Line-ups

Arsenal:

---------------------------Szczesny-----------------------

Jenkinson---Mertesacker---Vermaelen-----Gibbs

--------------------Arteta-------Diaby---------------

----Walcott--------Cazorla -----Podolski

--------------------------Giroud----------------------------


Sunderland:

--------------------------Sorensen--------------------------

Cameron---------Huth----Shawcross -----Wilson

Kightly------------Whelan----Whitehead-------Etherington

----------------------Crouch------Walters------------------------------

Dangermen

Arsenal: Santi Cazorla - He looked brilliant against Sunderland - the only Arsenal player to do so. 7 key passes, one which should definitely have resulted in a winner, and a really strong and effervescent general performance. Exactly what you want to see from your star signing, and hopefully he can do the same against Stoke, although they will probably try to kick him out of the game


Sunderland: Crouch - He always scores against us, the gangly oaf.


STAT

Crouch has scored the 2nd most goals against Arsenal of any PL player during our trophy drought - we all know who the most is, don't we?

Prediction

Stoke 1-1 Arsenal
Crouch 56' Walcott 71'

Feel free to leave your own comments, predictions and feedback below