Arsenal vs. Stoke

1-0, Premier League, Emirates Stadium, 2013-02-02
Podolski 78

An absolutely vital win! These are the games that we quite simply have to win, which only makes the relief of actually winning these games greater. Our new signing Nacho Monreal started this game and he looked a decent player. He might not have had an outstanding performance, but he did not make any significant mistakes and provided some good-looking crosses, as well as getting a shot away towards the end!

Five minutes into the game Walcott made a brilliant run and the following cross looked dangerous, unfortunately it was not met by anyone. After that initial chance the game stood still for a while, until the half hour mark when a great corner, taken by Wilshere, found its way to Oxlade-Chamberlain who fired the ball straight at the keeper. A few minutes later we had another corner, this time Walcott provided the cross, that was met by Giroud who headed it in towards the goal. It was cleared by a defender, but the clearance got no further than back to Walcott, whose second attempt was almost turned into the back of the net by Koscielny, but the keeper made another save. Then Oxlade-Chamberlain had another chance to score, Wilshere passed it to the English winger, but the keeper made another amazing save. The last chance we had in the first half came as Walcott's shot was blocked by Giroud, the Frenchman then made an attempt of his own, only for it to be blocked by a defender.

It cannot have escaped anyone's attention that we have had a trend of playing far better in the second half compared to the first half in recent games. So it was not particularly surprising to find that it happened in this game as well. We began somewhat slowly, Monreal had a cross almost met by Giroud, which was followed by a series of passes between Wilshere and Giroud that ended with a shot well over the bar. The game slowed down a bit after that until approximately fifteen minutes were left. That was when the only goal of the game took place: Walcott was awarded with a free-kick just outside of the box, that free-kick was taken by Lukas Podolski with a low and powerful shot that took a deflection off a defender into the back of the net. After the goal we built up more and more pressure, and Cazorla should have scored as he made a brilliant solo run past the defence and into the box, but his shot went over the bar. Before the game was over our new full-back to the left, Monreal, had a shot blocked.

Three vital points earned, meaning that we are slowly advancing as both Chelsea and Everton dropped points today. Another positive is this new defender, who appears to know what he is doing!

Injury Update:
- Arteta returned from injury to start this game as captain in Vermaelen's abscence.
- Gibbs will be out for approximately another month.