Match Review: Arsenal 3 Stoke City 1 - Premier League 22.9.13

Top of the league! Proudly we sit, early leaders amidst the chaos. Whilst you can't read much into the table at this stage, it's nice to see us at the top and starting off a season relatively well. Things have been a bit nuts so far this season, perfectly illustrated by Paulo Di Canio's sacking at Sunderland. To bring in a manager, have him save you from relegation, let him completely overhaul the squad and then sack him after five games is almost as barmy as the man himself.

No doubt Di Canio is absolutely off his rocker, but Sunderland knew what they were getting when they hired him. Now he's brought in his own players and back room staff and whoever replaces him has an unenviable task. It's just another strange moment in an already strange season. But for us, the good times continue to roll; since the Villa defeat, we've won all our games and looked good doing so. Players have hit form, the team is gelling well and we're reaping the rewards.

Like most Arsenal fans, I loathe Stoke City. When they were promoted they carved out a place in mid-table with a repulsive brand of anti-football, built around set plays and long throws and they've been hanging around like a bad smell ever since. The smell became a stench after Shawcross snapped Ramsey's leg and there's been bad blood between the two sides on and off the field ever since.

So it was no surprise that when Aaron Ramsey was receiving his award for Player of the Month, he was greeted with a chorus of boos from the Stoke fans. To my great delight though, they were quickly silenced by the man himself. We won a freekick on the edge of the box and Özil stepped up and curled an effort towards the far post.

It wasn't a particularly fantastic attempt, but Begovic managed to make a complete mess of it, pushing it tamely out in front of him. Ramsey nipped ahead of Walters, who was daydreaming about his lunch, and stuck the ball in the back of the net. The Welshman wheeled away, grinned cheekily and raised his finger to his lips as he jogged past the Stoke fans. It was a beautiful, oh so sweet moment and it gave me great pleasure imagining the away section like a scene from the Walking Dead; fans wild eyed, foaming at the mouth, arms stretched out, clutching at fresh air as the league's form midfielder breezed by. 1-0 with just five minutes gone, it was the perfect start.

Unfortunately, Arsenal aren't in the business of making perfect starts and turning them into easy wins. Maybe it was fatigue from the midweek game, maybe a bit of complacency or over confidence, but for most of the first half we were a bit flat. There wasn't much zip to our passing, Stoke got tight and the game got a bit sluggish.

We were certainly the better of the two teams, but either we nor Stoke looked like scoring. Serge Gnabry had been drafted into the starting XI at the last minute and endured a difficult first league start. The 18 year-old looked scared, who wouldn't be if thrown on against Stoke, his runs were aimless and he held on to the ball too long at times.

It showed how important Theo Walcott can be as an outlet and how far Theo has come since he was a youngster. Not that I want to be down on Gnabry, who is a very exciting talent, but with the right side not functioning well and the left not having any real width, play clogged up in the middle of the field and it turned into a sluggish half.

We had a few half chances, but in typical Arsenal fashion, we then let in a soft equaliser. Gibbs lost the ball to Cameron, who drove forward. Flamini covered round to left back and Cameron played a sort of one-twoish type thing with Jones before laying off to Nzonzi. I'm loathe to praise anything that Stoke do, but the ball that the midfielder played over the top was fantastic, perfectly weighted and Arnautovic volleyed onto the post. The ball rebounded out to the edge of the area and with Flamini out of the centre of midfield, Cameron was able to get a shot away unchallenged and finished a difficult chance well.

Mertesacker probably could have done more to stop Arnautovic, Gibbs was very lazy getting back and it ended with a very frustrating, very preventable goal. It was doubly annoying because we were the better team and it wasn't really a goal Stoke deserved. Their playing style has been changed by Mark Hughes, there's less of the long ball and more passing and possession play. But they're not much better than before, they never looked hugely threatening and we shouldn't have conceded.

Thankfully it wasn't level for long and we regained the lead with a goal that Stoke would have been proud of. Özil swung a corner towards Mertesacker, who produced a high looping header, which evaded both Koscielny and Begovic before nestling in the far corner. It seems that Stoke have forgotten how to defend set pieces in their eagerness to change their style, as Mertesacker got free easily and Begovic could have probably done better in trying to save it. Nevertheless, our lead was restored and it was 2-1 at half time.

This season Arsenal have been notoriously slow to start in the second half, but it seemed our concentration lapse had been used up for the Stoke goal. Gnabry grew into the game and started showing some serious ability, tracking back well and looking dangerous going forward. There's not much to say about the first 25 minutes other than both teams were passing the ball well, Arsenal looked the likelier, but Stoke were growing into the game.

Our third goal was a bit of a relief because, while we didn't look in danger, Stoke were having more of the ball and our tired legs were starting to show. Stoke committed what seemed like their 100th foul around their penalty box and up stepped our record signing again. Özil swung the ball beautifully into the box and Sagna jumped higher than the two defenders marking him to plant a beautiful header high over Begovic and into the far corner.

Another goal from a set piece and another poor bit of defending from the away side. It deflated Stoke and it was comfortable from there on out. Wenger introduced Monreal and Myaichi immediately after Sagna's goal, replacing Wilshere and Gnabry. This seems to be Arsène's new thing, putting on Monreal to shore up the left hand side having left it largely open for most of the game.

The FourFourTwo pitch map once again showed that Gibbs was being left without cover for much of the game and deploying Monreal towards the back end of games seems to be helping us see them out. The stand out player for me though, was Mathieu Flamini. He was absolutely outstanding in his defensive midfield role and has come in and played his heart out for the team.

To me it seems as if he, like many before him, regrets the decision he made to leave the club. He wasn't outstanding at Milan, he had a few injuries and missed a lot of game time and even though he still played well, he didn't kick on in the way you would have expected a 23/24 year old to after such an outstanding season at the Emirates. Now that he's back, he seems to be playing for his redemption and Wenger has been fully vindicated by his early season contributions.

When the final whistle went yesterday and chants of 'We are top of the league' rang round the stadium, it felt like a routine game ticked off the list. We've beaten Stoke every time they've slithered into the Emirates stadium and it's becoming a tradition, the annual repelling of the dark forces of middle earth. Stoke tried putting on the disguise of a passing team and while there were less long balls and they had 50% of the possession, they've still got most of their squad from last year.

Trying to teach Charlie Adam and Jon Walters beautiful football is like trying to teach an elephant ballet. They've still got their big lump of a centre forward and their giant man baby in Ryan Shawcross, who runs sniveling to the referee at the slightest opportunity, but spends most of the game fouling his way through the opposition and lumping the ball miles up the pitch.

If they bring in some players with a bit of creativity it might work out a bit better for them, but until then it's square pegs in round holes. The fixture is out of the way now and we didn't receive any injuries, which is a victory within the victory. We can now enjoy being at the top of the league for a while (not joint top Sp*rs, you're second, we're top) and trips to West Brom and Swansea.

Teams

Arsenal (4-2-3-1)
Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Flamini, Ramsey, Wilshere (Monreal 73'), Ozil (Arteta 80'), Gnabry (Miyaichi 73'), Giroud
Subs
Viviano, Jenkinson, Vermaelen, Arteta, Monreal, Bendtner, Myaichi

Stoke City (4-4-1-1)
Begovic, Pieters (Palacios - 67'), Huth■, Shawcross, Cameron, Arnautovic, Wilson, Nzonzi, Adam (Ireland 59'■), Walters, Jones (Pennant 75')
Subs
Sorensen, Whelan, Pennant, Palacios, Etherington, Ireland, Crouch

Player Ratings

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