Stoke 3 Arsenal 2Premier League
Stoke Peter Crouch 1, Krkic Bojan 35, Jonathan Walters 45
Arsenal Santi Cazorla 68, Aaron Ramsey 70
Jonathan Walters scores the third goal for Stoke against Arsenal in the Premier League at the Britannia Stadium.The most damning thing is that Arsenal did not seem to know what had hit them. On a venture into a cauldron with which they are grimly familiar, against opponents who relish hosting them and on a day when Chelsea’s defeat at Newcastle had reignited the faint possibility of them rejoining the title race, Arsène Wenger’s team made a feeble start from which they never recovered.
Arsenal fleetingly threatened to mount a creditable comeback but ultimately finished with 10 men, as Calum Chambers was harshly sent off, and no points, which was all they deserved. Stoke were full value for their victory.
Matches between these clubs have been shrouded in a singular atmosphere in recent seasons, part culture clash, part blood feud. Much of the ill feeling dates back to the shattering injury that Aaron Ramsey suffered following a challenge by Ryan Shawcross here four years ago. Paradoxically, that harrowing match was the last one that Arsenal have won here. Stoke may have evolved beyond the direct style that once led Wenger to dismiss them as a rugby team during the Tony Pulis regime, but under Mark Hughes they have continued to unsettle Arsenal.
Wenger would surely have wanted to deploy a full-strength side here but the fact that injuries to Laurent Koscielny and Nacho Monreal meant that he had to deploy a back four that included a pair of inexperienced 19-year-olds highlighted why Arsenal fans have long complained that he has bought insufficient cover in that area. Arsenal should still have had the wherewithal to cope much better with the challenge ahead. Having been so amply forewarned, there is no excuse for how shocked they looked from the start.
It took Stoke 18 seconds to expose Arsenal’s fragility. Chambers seemed to shrink under a cross from Steven Nzonzi and the ball dropped in the six-yard box. As Héctor Bellerín floundered, Mame Biram Diouf helped it on to Peter Crouch, who stroked it past Emiliano Martínez from close range. Cue that familiar gloating refrain from Stoke fans when Arsenal are in town: “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” they crooned.
Stoke remained stronger and sharper than the visitors throughout the first period but also more coherent. Arsenal should, however, have equalised in the 11th minute when Bellerín raced down the right and picked out Olivier Giroud with a sweet cross. The Frenchman headed wide from five yards. That was no way to go about vindicating Wenger’s decision to start him ahead of Danny Welbeck.
At the other end Martínez was looking jittery, fumbling a long-range shot from Phil Bardsley in the 18th minute. It was symptomatic of the first half that Stoke’s wonder waif, Bojan Krkic, harassed Cazorla into coughing up possession on halfway in the 25th minute before out-fighting Per Mertesacker to set up a Stoke attack that culminated in a dangerous corner. When Krkic is bullying your team, it is difficult to fend off accusations of mental weakness. Krkic ghosted past Arsenal defenders in the 34th minute to slam a cross from Jonathan Walters into the net.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Alexis Sánchez made sporadic bursts forward for Arsenal but their ad hoc incursions did not yield shooting opportunities, underlining how fragmented Arsenal seemed. The visiting manager sat seething in his dugout.
“Arsène Wenger, he’s scared to stand up,” taunted the home fans. Wenger later explained that the reason he remained seated throughout the match was that “they love me so much here that I didn’t want to give them an opportunity to show their love for me”. Understandable, but the sight of Wenger hiding from opposing fans offered an eloquent metaphor for his player’s performance.
Arsenal wilted again under the challenge of a corner just before half-time, Crouch nodding it on before Walters rocketed the ball into the roof of the net from three yards to make it 3-0.
Wenger replaced Bellerín with Welbeck for the second half and that change helped trigger an improvement, the England striker sending a deflected effort off target just after the break.
Stoke kept Sánchez mostly subdued until the 57th minute, when the South American embarked on a dribble of which Diego Maradona would have been proud. But after rounding the goalkeeper Sánchez shot against the post. Then Krkic did better and seemingly put the result beyond doubt.
After darting in from the left the forward fired a low shot past Martínez at the near post to crown a superb personal performance. But his effort was disallowed.
Arsenal badly needed a break and they got one in the 68th minute when Diouf shunted over Mathieu Flamini in the box to concede a penalty which Cazorla converted. Fresh belief flowed through Arsenal, even more so two minutes later when Ramsey scored with a spanking volley.
In the 78th minute another Krkic-led attack was ended illegally by Chambers, who thus earned his second yellow card. Arsenal were now a man down as well as a goal down, with 12 minutes to go. They fought hard for an equaliser but their efforts proved too little, too late.
