Arsenal take on Stoke City this weekend after they drew their opening Premier League game against Sunderland at the Emirates.
The Gunners were unable to score as they saw the game out in a scoreless draw. The club had chances to score a goal and seal three points, but new signings Olivier Giroud and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lukas-Podolski-c22896 were unable to find the back of the net. The French striker had
the best chance of the game, but missed the goal completely as he got at the end of an excellent reverse pass from Santi Cazorla.
Stoke City drew against Reading at the Madejski Stadium, which saw both the teams score one goal. The Potters had scored early on but conceded a penalty later and managed to grab a point from the game. Both teams will be looking for a win as they prepare
for the second week of the Premier League.
Stoke
Stoke will be keen on a win since this is their first home game of the season. The club has had significant success at the Britannia stadium, especially against Arsenal.
The Potters will be without defender http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jermaine-Pennant-c18364, Rory
Delap, and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Matthew-Etherington-c24822 in the midfield.
Striker http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Peter-Crouch-c29741 will start up front with Jon Walters as both players will look to impose themselves on the Arsenal defence. Stoke will be hoping that Crouch is able to continue his fine run against Arsenal after the tall striker scored twice in both
fixtures against them last season.
Arsenal will have to be wary of Stoke’s direct play and will have a lot of defending to do from set pieces and throw ins.
Arsenal
Arsenal will travel to the Britannia Stadium with the same squad that featured against Sunderland. Arsenal showed how badly they missed the killer instinct of star striker http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Robin-van-Persie-c31380 last week against Sunderland and will hope that their new signings
are able to step it up and get their names on the score sheet.
Van Persie had score three goals against Stoke in two games last season, but now, the Gunners will be hoping to forget all about the Dutchman as long as either Giroud or Podolski can help them get three points at the Britannia.
Stoke have a very good record at home, and only lost four times last season. None of the defeats came at the hands of a title contending side, which poses problems for Arsenal.
Arsenal are still without http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Kieran-Gibbs-c20945
and Carl Jenkinson in the full back positions.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Santi-Cazorla-c32505 in the middle of the park. Both Spaniards showed how well they can combine together last week
and will look to feed the likes of Podolski, Giroud, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gervinho-c14755 on the wings.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749 squad last week on account of a slight knocks on his leg.
Arsenal face a difficult task, but with a new look team, may just be able to steal a win. Olivier Giroud is a tall centre forward and offers a different attacking outlet to the team. Podolski is also more physical and a direct player, who is not afraid of
taking on defenders. Both players may be able to frustrate the Stoke defence.
At the moment however, a 1-1 draw looks like the most likely result.
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