Five Things Learnt from Arsenal vs Stoke

Arsenal 2- 0 Stoke: Five Things We Learned

SillySeason look into the match at the Emirates Stadium. In this edition of ‘Five Things’, SillySeason are going to look into the stand-out factors from Arsenal’s 2-0 win against Stoke City at the Emirates Stadium yesterday afternoon.

Goals from Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud gave The Gunners their first home win of the season, and also the club’s first goals at home in the season.

Following a loss and a draw to West Ham United and Liverpool respectively, Arsene Wenger‘s men went into the game with a poor record at the Emirates, but in the end, it was a comfortable afternoon for the hosts.

Here are the five things that stood out.

5) Goodbye Per Mertesacker?

It’s never a good time to miss games, especially when there is competition for places, but whilst Per Mertesacker has been out due to illness, Gabriel Paulista has been making a name for himself.

An assured performance against Liverpool was then backed up with a solid display away at Newcastle United the following week.

Although the Arsenal back-line was rarely tested yesterday, it was another clean-sheet and another smooth performance from the Brazilian alongside Laurent Koscielny.

Could this be Arsenal’s new centre-back pairing? If so, it’s goodbye to Mertesacker who could be spending his time on the bench from now on.

4) Alexis Sanchez still not fully-fit

It must be tough for Alexis Sanchez.

He featured throughout the entire campaign last season, often carrying his team-mates through bad spells, and then played in the Copa America for Chile.

Arsene Wenger was expected to give him a few weeks extra break but he was thrown into the Premier League opener against West Ham United after they went 2-0 down.

Now with more game-time under his belt, he may be getting back the match-fitness, but he still doesn’t look as sharp as last season.

Whether Wenger decides to rest him soon is not known, but the Frenchman could risk overplaying the winger and that could become a real long-term problem for The Gunners.

3) Asmir Who?

Okay Stoke City may have lost the game, but if it wasn’t for Jack Butland, it could have been at least five or six.

The young England goalkeeper was on top form denying several Arsenal stars throughout the match and keeping the game at 1-0 before Olivier Giroud scored a late header.

Save after save kept Arsenal out and with the scoreline at just 1-0, you never know what might happen in the closing stages.

Sadly for Butland, his team-mates outfield couldn’t create anything of note to scare Arsenal and eventually he ended up conceding a second.

However, it was certainly a stand-out performance from the ‘keeper.

2) Theo Walcott ISN’T A Striker

Now I know you are going to say ‘but he scored a goal with a nice finish’, and yes he did, but he also missed chance after chance.

Theo Walcott will always be a winger in my eyes, or a second-striker, but he will never be a lone-striker.

He may fool you with his pace and ability to get onto the end of balls, like he did for his goal yesterday from a long-ball up field by Mesut Ozil, but when you actually watch him, he looks lost in the position.

He floats around just waiting for something to happen for him, and when he does receive the ball, his hold-up play is not good enough.

He missed a real sitter against Newcastle United, and had a similar miss yesterday before then heading over from about seven yards.

They say you are born with a striker’s brain, and it just doesn’t seem Walcott has it.

He took his goal well though.

1) Mark Hughes Needs To Get The Balance Right

Why are Stoke City so good at home, but then often offer nothing away from home?

It’s a problem they had under Tony Pulis, and also seemingly a problem they have under Mark Hughes.

Arguably they have improved under Hughes, but they still seem to struggle for wins away from the Britannia Stadium.

Alright you can survive when you make your home stadium a fortress, but after the summer signings they’ve made, it’s really time for Stoke to start pushing on and aiming higher and higher each year.

Hughes has to get the balance right in the away games and Stoke have to start offering a threat.

So there are our five things that stood out for us.

What about you?

Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt