The Orcs visited the Gunners with their ancient and under world armoury garnished with Rugby tactics. They tore Debuchy’s shoulders apart but were shot thrice a piece to the delight of his majesty, Sir Henry The Legend.
The Razor man from Chile had so much divine armoury that he grabbed a brace and assisted Koscielny’s opener.
Match report – Player Rating via ESPN – Wenger’s Comment.
The five:
1. Szczesny Smoked Off; Ospina Days Off
Following his poor display against Southampton and his smoking epistle, Szczesny was dropped from the starting lineup in place of David Ospina. Ospina had little or nothing to do as Arsenal kept Stoke at bay and on the backfoot. Even the physio had more action on the pitch than the Colombian. But Szczesny sure sulked all through the match. His place is at stake and he must fight his way back. For Arsenal, it is good news to see a degree of competition between the sticks.
2. Dirty Stoke, Pokey Orcs
Arnautovic bundled Debuchy to the sideboard inflicting a shoulder injury to the former Newcastle man. The french international was stretched out with Bellerin his replacement. Stokes tactics continued in various department with Giroud and Shawcross having an endless battle. Crouch had his giraffe battle with Metersacker and gave Monreal a cut on his eyes but the 1st half goals had taken away the power of Hades from the Orcs. Brute and different, the Potters were shattered. A sweet revenge to the 3-2 loss at the Brittania.
3. Le Coq, Le Rozza and Le Kos
Few weeks ago he was on loan to Charlton Athletic, today he is bossing the Arsenal midfield banishing Flamini to the bench. Coquelin was exceptional like previous games and one may wonder if Wenger will get a DM in this transfer window.
Rosicky‘s acceleration remains top notch and his assist to Sanchez shows he reads the Chilean’s movement. It is becoming customary to see Rozza in the 2nd half of the season than the 1st seeing that he was overlooked in the 1st half of the season.
As for Koscielny, he is the boss, the minister of defence. His free headed goal was pre-assisted by him and he showed great intent to head past Begivic.
4. Alexis Alexis Alexis
First, a crashing challenge from Stoke midfielder Steven N’Zonzi was hurdled with wondrous agility, before Alexis Sanchez accelerated past Geoff Cameron and performed another act of balletic brilliance in sending both Philipp Wollscheid and Ryan Shawcross the wrong way, using the latter as a screen to similarly fox goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.
– ESPN Brewin
Over 50% of Arsenal’s goals this season has been assisted or scored by Alexis Sanchez. The chilean grabbed his 17th goal of the season to the eulogy of the fans and Thierry Henry. Such workrate and versatility spiced tenacity and energy. Can we have another Alexis? Barcelona will feel cheated.
5. Ozil and Others
Mesut Ozil returned from his 3 months injury since the 2-0 defeat to Chelsea. His return adds more dimension to the current Arsenal setup and Wenger will need to find a way to accommodate the German. Walcott missed a one-on-one chance again and you can only ponder as to when he will get his scoring boots back. Cazorla continued his scintillating display with OX galloping away just lacking the finish.
In all, the team put up a top quality performance despite the injury to Debuchy. For now we take the gamez one after the other: Etihad stadium is next.
Enjoy.
SoccerGunz 