Stoke City take on Arsenal in English Premier League – Match preview
Arsenal may have blown away their chances of winning the Premier League once again in the ongoing 2010-11 season, but if one is extremely optimistic, then the Gunners still have a mathematical chance of winning it.
Stoke City on the other hand have their own issues to deal with, and relegation is something that would still be on their mind. Even though the Potters are on 10th place, they are still 8 points away from the relegation zone, and in last three
games, anything can happen if they lose their focus.
The big battle in the game will be between http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Aaron-Ramsey-c3065. It was Shawcross whose tackle broke Ramsey’s leg last season. It would be interesting to see if there is any hesitation from the Stoke player as he goes in to get the ball from the
Arsenal midfielder.
Stoke’s assistant manager Dave Kemp has no doubts that Shawcross will not be bothered by the past, and will solely be focused on the job at hand.
Ramsey has since made a full recovery and been in good form of late. The midfielder scored the winner against Manchester United recently that sparked the title race wide open once again.
Stoke on loan striker http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/John-Carew-c18841 of Aston Villa is expected to get a start after impressing in the last game against Blackpool where he came off the bench. Carew in his younger days scored an important goal against Arsenal in the Champions League back in
2001. He was playing for the Spanish http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Arsenal-c38429 for Valencia so he does have a knack of scoring against the Gunners- a fact surely not lost on the manager of
Stoke City.
Carew said, “I have scored the winner against Arsenal a couple of times and it would be nice to do it again. It has been frustrating being injured the last couple of months, especially as I thought I had been doing well.”
Arsenal on the other hand have nothing more to play for other than to make sure that they remain in 3rd place. Manchester City trail them by 5 points but do have a game in hand. Arsenal blew their chances of winning the League when they lost to
Bolton Wanderers couple of weeks ago, and even the win against Manchester United was not enough to get them back in the race.
Arsene Wenger will look to put out a strong line up, as he does not have any other commitments to rest his players for. Even though this is an away game, expect Arsenal to come out with an attacking formation.
An accustomed 4-4-2 may be the order of the day. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jack-Wilshere-c17463 has been impressive in the midfield
and is expected to hold his place as well. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Samir-Nasri-c32360 is also expected to start, so it does look like almost a first choice Arsenal team
that will visit the Britannia Stadium on the weekend. Expect Arsenal to come away with all three points, but keeping in mind their inconsistent form against lesser oppositions, they may be prone to another slip up.
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