Arsenal vs Stoke City: Match Preview

This Saturday, we welcome Tony Pulis’s team to the Emirates. Now that Big Sam is out of a job, Pulis must be the manager most hated by Arsenal fans among the current crop of Premiership gaffers. His reaction and comments after the Shawcross incident and subsequent jibes regarding our beloved team has made him a favorite target for the loyal fans at the Emirates.

The Potters are in quite good form coming into this match having gone four matches unbeaten before bad home defeat to Blackpool last weekend, whereas we are still suffering from the morale-crushing defeat to Man United on Monday night.

We know have our full complement of first choice players back bar for Vermaelen so we should see how the team gel after some lackluster performances. I have said previously that our success this year would be conditioned on getting the offensive players to work together in the same team Arsene must somehow fit Van Persie and Chamakh upfront and accommodate both Cesc and Nasri in field. This issue will be a major determinant of our success this season. It has been proven time and again that went we score early then our chances of winning are much better.  In fact we almost always win when we go ahead in a match.

Surprisingly our attack has been stuttering for the past couple of games. Somehow we are not getting in gear. Against Man United, we were hardly an attacking force and barely forcing Van der Sar to make a save. This is unacceptable given the quality of offensive players at the manager’s disposal. If the player is not playing up to his form, then make the brave decision and bench him. Arshavin would be a classic case.  He is blowing hot and cold this season (mainly cold) so let’s give others a chance. There are others waiting in the wings like Theo and Vela. Although both have not impressed of late, they can provide more variation to that Arsenal attack. Theo especially has been disappointing since he came back, but I feel he deserves his chance in the starting line-up.

This match will not be won by our defense. We know how Stoke will play and given recent history, they will probably score a goal from one of Delap’s missiles. This is inevitable so in order to win this Saturday we need to score more goal that them. With Chelsea and Man United going against each other, it will be an opportunity for us to climb back to the top of the Premiership for Christmas.