English Premier League Preview: Arsenal versus Stoke City
Arsenal will be looking forward to hosting Stoke City on Saturday in the English Premier League fixture. A Gunners win will see Arsenal’s title challenge get back on track, after Arsene Wenger’s team succumbed to a defeat at the hands of a rival title challenger,
Manchester United last week. Arsenal now sit on the second spot, a position below the Red Devils, with a two point gap between the two teams. Manchester United travel to London to face Chelsea on Sunday, leaving the Gunners with an early opportunity to leap
frog their top of the table rivals, if they manage a win. Securing a position at the summit of the table over Sir Alex Ferguson’s team with a one point advantage would be a swift revenge for the Gunners, who lost by a mere goal to nil at Old Trafford last
Monday.
Stoke City sit on the twelfth spot in the League table, having attained twenty one points to Arsenal’s thirty two this season. Stoke City have won six games from their seventeen, with Arsenal securing ten victories. The Gunners have drawn two matches, compared
to the Saints’ three and have lost five fixtures as opposed to Stoke’s eight. The Gunners have scored thirty four goals this season, compared to Tony Pulis’ team’s twenty one. Stoke have conceded twenty two goals this season, with Arsenal conceding three less.
Stoke City’s Ryan Shawcross is sure to be targeted by Gunners fans when the player makes the trip to the Emirates Stadium. In the previous fixtures between these two sides, a challenge by Shawcross on Aaron Ramsey caused the Arsenal player’s leg to break.
Ryan Shawcross was subsequently shown a red for the challenge and the nineteen year old Ramsey is now on loan to Nottingham Forrest until January, and recently recovered from the horrific injury. Critics have argued that despite the consequences of Shawcross’s
tackle, the player appeared to have injured Ramsey by accident and Tony Pulis, the Stoke manager has reiterated this stance by saying “He made an honest, committed challenge, and he's nothing to worry about. He'll go out there and play."
The two teams have met ninety one times before, with Arsenal dominating the fixtures by securing forty eight victories over the Saints’ twenty two wins. The two sides have drawn twenty one times. Arsenal won both fixtures against Stoke City last season in
the English Premier League. Stoke managed to defeat Arsenal in the FA cup fourth round, at the Britannia Stadium in a match which saw Arsenal kicked out of the competition due to 3-1 win by the Saints.
Arsenal have endured a shaky home form this season, having been defeated thrice so far at the Emirates, with only West Ham (a team at the absolute bottom of the table) having lost more fixtures on their home turf. No opposition have scored against Arsenal
in the first twenty five minutes of any game this season. Stoke should be wary of conceding a penalty decision to the Gunners, as Arsenal have scored two penalty goals against Stoke (having been awarded three), in the past three matches between the two clubs.
The last fixture between these two teams saw Cesc Fabregas’ penalty saved and the Spaniard is said to be making his 250th first team appearance for the North London club.
Last week Stoke City succumbed to defeat at the hands of Blackpool, which brought a halt to the Saints’ five fixture unbeaten run. Stoke may need to work on their aim, as they are the club this season so far who have struck the woodwork the most amount of
times (ten). Saints’ player, Robert Huth will be appearing a 50th time for his team in the Premier League in this fixture.
Arsenal may be without Nicolas Bendtner, who may be taking paternity leave to witness the birth of his child, while Lukasz Fabianski may not play due to a hip injury. Definate injury worries for Wenger are Manuel Almunia, Abou Diaby and Kieran Gibbs who
are all out with ankle injuries. In addition, Thomas Vermaelen will not play due to an Achilles problem.
Stoke City’s Jon Walters may not play due to a flu and Mamady Sidibe is sidelined with an Achilles injury.
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