Stoke Vs Arsenal
Sunday 17th Jan. 16:15PM
Britannia stadium



Well we dropped 2 points already against Liverpool and now even a more difficult test waits for us this sunday. Our record away to stoke is pathetic. However this time we wont only face a gritty stoke team, but a talented gritty stoke team. We have seen how the likes of Bojan, Arnautovic and Shaqiri can rip opponents apart and our team will face 2nd tough match in a row.

What hopes I had at anfield, I dont have any at Britannia tbh.

Lets see what team Arsene puts in. Would be great to have Sanchez on the bench (should NOT start). Elneny will be available too.


-----------------------cech----------------------------
Bellerin-------Mertesacker----Koscielny--------Monreal
------------Ramsey--------Elneny-------------------
Joel-----------------Ozil-------------------Walcott
-------------------Giroud---------------------------

Would be a trial by fire to throw Elneny into the starting XI at the Britannia but then again, Flamini is so limited it's scary. Gave us some laughs with that brace this season but beyond that and some 6/10 performances, the gulf in quality between him and Coq/Santi is enormous. Pls no more Flamini starts.

Not the best match to use to bounce back from a tough result but our bad luck away to them has to end some time.

We have only won once in 34 years away at stoke?

Perfect game for Elneny to start, lets see what he is made of? . Anything is better option than Flamini and for the love of god keep Arteta away from the bench.

Maybe its the hair but Elneny kinda reminds me of Alex Song.

Spoiler:

Don;t think Flamini will play because its 2 games in one week. But more likely Chambers than Elneny IMO.

Just can't see us winning this one. Best will be to scrub it out for a draw. It will be very similar as it always is against Stoke. They'll be in our faces and we'll make some pretty bad decisions in defense and they'll score off of it. We won't get our passing going to stamp our authority in the game, but Stoke ain't not Italian defensive masterclass team, so we'll get a goal or two maybe hopefully.

But then yet again, if we are serious about winning this title we have to start winning these games we usually don't win. We can't keep on relying on the unpredictability of the league till the end of the season. We all know sooner or later City will get better and rack up consecutive wins. We just have to beat them to it. That's the only way I see us winning the title.

You know last game against Liverpool in those last 10 mins I was thinking you know this is the sort of games a title winning team would be winning and after the season it will also be "one of those matches" you look back on and said "that's when we took a major step forward" or "that was one of the brilliant nights in our title winning season". City, Chelsea, United have had those pivotal games and those nights in previous years, and I'm sure most of us could recall them. That's why I was like crossing my fingers and hoping and believing on Wednesday night that maybe that Liverpool game could be one of those games for us. We didn't play particularly well, but it was a crazy game, one of the contenders for game of the season, and if we could have come up on top winning it, it would have instilled such a stronger belief in the team and the fanbase that we are indeed ready to make it to the top of the league, make a gap and stay their right until the end.

But nah, we all know how it turned out. And I gotta say it's still very shaky all over the league. We're getting at that stage of the season where the next team near the top of the table that strings a good run together can and will become heavy favourites. I just hope it's us.

COME ON YOU GUNNERS!!!

Aren't gonna do shit without a gelled midfield fighting to win for each other.

Raptorgunner wrote:We have only won once in 34 years away at stoke?

That's...that's... Dnt know what to say

“Last year we went to Stoke with a very young defence - we had Bellerin, Chambers, Martinez - and at the start of the game we got caught,” he said.
“Over the years they had a very efficient, traditional English style which nobody liked to play against and it is as well a very windy stadium. And let’s not forget for years they had that narrow pitch where every throw-in beyond halfway was a corner when Rory Delap played.
“[This time] Cech is 34, Mertesacker 30, Koscielny 30, Monreal 30… before we did not have that level of experience and that helps a little bit.
“I think [the squad] feels stronger. It is always a test at Stoke and I believe our record goes against us, but it is interesting as well because it is also a mental test to show we have moved forward and that we can deal with what they offer.
“I feel the feeling that the team moved forward in 2015. We have stabilised the results and got some consistency and the biggest challenge was to win the big games.
“That makes you feel stronger when you are fighting for the Premier League title. We have beaten United and City recently so we can do very well.”
No team that has gone on to win the Premier League has lost at the Britannia Stadium in the same season, and Wenger feels his side are ready to end their disappointing record there.
“I hope we have a good result and I will call you on Sunday night to make sure the statistics are updated!” he said.

Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20160115/-we-are-better-equipped-to-face-stoke-#QR001xPA1hAupdhk.99

Ah, well at least those are calming words. Mans taking it seriously so I hope this confidence and defiance to get the job done passes on to the players as well.

Never knew Monreal was 30

Raptorgunner wrote:We have only won once in 34 years away at stoke?

We won there in the league in 2009/10, our only away win since their promotion to the Premier League in 2006/07 but they weren't in the top flight from 1985-2006 to give that some context.

No team that has gone on to win the Premier League has lost at the Britannia Stadium in the same season, and Wenger feels his side are ready to end their disappointing record there.

ah was actually thinking about this and trying to remember each champions result in this fixture
Lets do this

Beating stokeleona is good practice for Barcelona.

Rathee play rambo on the wing atm over walcott. But then again walcott can run in behind and maybe cause more problems than ramsey would

getdarker wrote:Rathee play rambo on the wing atm over walcott. But then again walcott can run in behind and maybe cause more problems than ramsey would

That won't happen seeing as Walcott doesn't want to be a winger anymore and only focuses on making diagonal runs inward.

He is limiting us massively because of that. Agreed with getdarker that we rather have Ramsey as a false winger than Walcott

Benching Giroud isn't an option with his amazing form.

When he plays LW it's not like he can run outwards and cross on his left foot.

Ramsey on the wing won't happen as otherwise we would have no one to play in the midfield.

silver wrote:When he plays LW it's not like he can run outwards and cross on his left foot.

Ramsey on the wing won't happen as otherwise we would have no one to play in the midfield.

But he can run straight -> stretch out the game -> create space for others -> and then cut back inside either to shoot like against City or to pass the ball to someone in a better position or put in a low cross because that's more useful than an elevated cross because let's be honest, left foot or right, he ain't good at that

Even that one victory was marred by a serious incident.The Ramsey injury.

Only 3 members of the squad that won away at Stoke are still at Arsenal with Ramsey,ironically being the only one who started among the 3.

I'd be open to Ramsey playing in the wings if we don't see Sanchez doing his Ninja recovery on time.

Rather than arguing about what Ramsey will add while playing in the wings,it's more important we talk about how the midfield will maintain shape and not leave space to be exploited.

Walcott has been woeful of late.Dunno where he got this idea that once you become a striker you need to keep shooting poor shots from all impossible angles despite playing in the wings or making stupid passes and breaking up play.His defensive needs to be improved as well(or maybe coz I'm comparing it with Campbell's I feel so).

And the worst thing is Theo knows he'll start no matter what with Chambo in poor form,Alexis and Welbz injured and Ramsey is playing in the midfield.This was supposed to be Chamberlain's season FFS.

Also high time Gabriel is given a start.You don't want Gentleman Per up against thugs like Arnautovic.

I'd probably go with

Cech;Belle-Gab-Kos-Monreal;Elneny-Flam;Joel-Oezil-Ramsey;G-Rude.

The midfield seems weak but knowing our poor record at Stoke it's better that the midfield concentrates with the defending first rather than helping with the attack.

And for the last time I hope AW stops with his idiotic experimentation of Gibbs being substituted for a winger.It's not gonna work FFS.Rather I'd be ok even with a 5-men defense with Monreal playing as a CB but not this.AW should bring in Chambers and not Arteta like last time.Maybe AW wanted to see how good/bad Arteta was.Now that he knows the answer I hope it's Chambers and not Arteta.

Bring in a CB/LB and make it a sort of 5-men defence.Bring in Chambers as DM and one good midfielder who can retain the ball and pass well.We had completely run out of ideas vs. Liverpool during the dying minutes and simply kept giving the ball back to them which hit us in the end.

Also,AW give a sub appearance to Li'l Mozart.Been ages since we saw him,his silky touches and those outside the boot passes.

T-Mach wrote:Maybe AW wanted to see how good/bad Arteta was.Now that he knows the answer I hope it's Chambers and not Arteta.

Thing is mate he should be seeing that in training every day

Reading that Özil may not have travelled.

He's been rumoured to be "out" every week recently because he's not in the training pictures. He sits out training sessions because Wenger's managing his fitness.

It's nice and snowy up in Stoke btw. Perfect conditions for us.

Woot woot

No Mesut.

Ox as AM then? Would be less porous than Ox as CM.

Then again, Ramsey isn't doing particularly well as a CM either.

\_o.O_/