As the game drew on I had that feeling that we would be staring down the barrel of another disappointing result. But then in the 78th minute Lukas Podolski's deflected shot found the bottom right hand corner. After a bizarre ruled out and ruled back in incident and rather amusing moment between us and the Stoke fans we had our goal and held on until the end. In all honesty Stoke turned up happy to try and absorb all the pressure and nick a point, but we always looked like scoring. Let's hope we can have a repeat performance against Sunderland this weekend.
Sunderland have been in a real hit and miss side this season. Beating City one week then losing to Reading the next. Let's hope we catch them on the off day when we travel up north on Saturday. Now we know Sunderland are a physical side much like Stoke and we know it'll be a tough game. Fletcher is their main target man having scored nearly double the amount of goals as their next highest scorer. We also have Danny Graham to contend with having signed for them in the window.
Vermaelen is still a doubt after failing to shake off an injury picked up before last weekends game. If he's still out Koscielny will step in again. Wenger will have a choice to make between keeping Diaby and Oxlade-Chamberlain in or returning to Podolski and Cazorla. I thought we looked more dangerous with the German and Spaniard in the team, however both, Cazorla especially needed a rest. I think Wenger will throw them back in this weekend. So: SZCZ(who might actually have a save to make this week), Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscileny, Monreal, Arteta, Wilshere, Cazorla, Walcott, Podolski, Giroud would be my guess at the team.
I thought Monreal overall was fairly solid against Stoke, he can certainly pick out a ball and he can certainly hold his own physically. He has a few wobbles but I'll put that down to nerves more than anything. It was great to see another Spaniard in the team in the form of Mikel Arteta, whose experience is desperately needed in the team. We're no doubt better off with him in the team so I'm glad to see him back.
It'll be a tough trip to Sunderland but let's hope we can grab another 3 points in the fight for the top 4. COYG!
Prediction: Sunderland 1-2 Arsenal
So a point against the scousers, an injury to Gibbs and a left back from Malaga. That pretty much sums up our week. Our defensive frailties once again cost us 3 points with both of Liverpools goals resulting from shambolic defending. That said we again showed fight to pull 2 back and Giroud had a golden chance to secure the points with minutes to go. Now don't get me wrong, he definitely should have scored, like he definitely should have scored against Chelsea, but he's netted 14 times for us this season and you really can't sniff at that.
For a long, long time it looked as if we weren't going to make a signing and then when it finally came, it was somewhat underwhelming. Despite Gibbs' injury I wouldn't have had a left back at the top of the list of urgent signings, but at least it shows intent to bolster the defence. Nacho Monreal is a Spanish international and now former Malaga player, I must admit I know very little about him but he comes highly rated by those in Spain and I hear he's fast, technical but also aggressive. Time will tell how good a signing he will turn out to be.
So ahead of our highly anticipated Rugby League match against Stoke tomorrow, news from the Emirates seems to be that Vermaelen is a doubt although we see the return of Arteta. Obviously we're without Gibbs so I think the team will look something like: SZCZ, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Wilshere, Arteta, Cazorla, Walcott, Podolski, Giroud.
Now Stoke only have one away win all season, so lets hope this stat continues. They also have an away goal difference of -8. Defensively they haven't been all at it this season. So obviously the main dangers are Crouch, Walters and Jones should he play. In the middle of the park they also have N'Zonzi who is unpredictable if anything.
This fixture now has a history of being a bit fiery so I expect a good atmosphere tomorrow and hopefully 3 points. COYG!
Prediction: Arsenal 2-0 Stoke City
