Tony Pulis may well have been thinking three points away at Arsenal was a feasible outcome from Sunday’s game in London.
The Gunners have had a torrid start to the season while Stoke have already managed draws at home with Chelsea and Manchester United.
But the Gunners, heading into Sunday’s game, had won five of their last six games in all competitions and Stoke hadn’t won away at Arsenal in 30 years.
Well now its 31.
Despite starting from the bench for the first time in the League this season, Robin van Persie’s two strikes were enough to edge the Gunners past Pulis’ men at the Emirates.
Arsenal had taken the lead after 27 minutes when number 27, Gervinho, got behind the Stoke back four and brought down an exquisite chip from Aaron Ramsey, before firing past a helpless Asmir Begovic in the Stoke goal.
Pulis made six change to the side that won in Europe on Thursday night and the fresh legs on the pitch helped Stoke grab an almost immediate reply.
Glenn Whelan lofted a freekick down to Ryan Shawcross on the bye-line. Shawcross headed across goal causing all kinds of problems for Arsenal in their six-yard box as they struggled to clear from danger. The ball eventually landed at the foot of Peter Crouch who tucked the ball home from close range to pull Stoke level.
Wenger had started the game with Moroccan Marouane Chamank up front but his uninspiring performance, that included a miss from a free header just six yards from goal, forced Weneger to bring Arsenal’s talisman off the bench for the final 20 minutes.
Stoke had looked resolute at the back before van Persie’s introduction, but the crafty movement and play of the Dutch striker helped provide space for Gervinho and Andre Arshavin on the wings, while Mikel Arteta and Ramsey kept providing service form the middle of the park.
Minutes after van Persie’s introduction Arsenal took the lead. Gervinho ran at Jon Walters on the Arsenal right before cutting the ball back from the bye-line. Van Persie, at the near post, just opened his body and tucked the ball past a sprawling Begovic who’s hand to the ball couldn’t prevent it crossing the line.
The Gunners third was a mirror image of their second. Gervinho, this time on the left, broke past Andy Wilkinson and Matthew Upson before pulling the ball back to find van Persie again on the edge of the six-yard box.
“We held them out until the main man comes on up front, he’s on a bit of form now at the minute and he’s put in two goals.” Said Glenn Whelan after the game.
“We’d done really well up until 60 - 70 minutes,” continued the Ireland international.
“But then we’ve dropped off a little bit, doing what we didn’t want them to do, letting them in behind us and then they’ve dragged two back from the by-line and scored two goals which he’s [Tony Pulis] disappointed in and it’s something we need to work on.”
Stoke did seem to lose some gas in their tank after the hour mark but Whelan wasn’t going to let Thursday nights Europa League clash be used as an excuse.
“I think because we’ve got beaten in a few games afterwards it’s easy for everyone to say that and it gives us an excuse, but the managers made changes he knows what the lads are like and what they’ve got in their legs to play in these games,” continued the Potters midfielder.
“If he’s picking the team to go out on a Thursday and then to go out on a Sunday, he knows that he’s got a team going out to win a game so it would be easier for us to say that it’s an excuse but we wont.”
Arsenal’s win sees them jump past Stoke up into seventh place in the Premiership while Stoke’s thoughts must now turn to their Carling Cup tie with Liverpool on Wednesday night.
“We’ve got a tough draw against Liverpool but we fancy ourselves against anybody at home in the Britannia,” an eager Whelan commented.
“We’ll be going out to win the game and get into the next round.”
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