Arsenal St(r)oke City down

In the only premier league encounter of the night, Arsenal faced Stoke City in a crucial fixture at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday. With nothing but a win in mind and closing down the gap on Manchester United, Arsenal faced a very stubborn Stoke side but managed to churn out important three points with a 1-0 victory. But the victory came at a very costly price with Arsenal losing captain Fabregas and winger Theo Walcott injured through the game. With Carling cup final on Sunday and a chance to win the first silverware in 5 years, Arsenal will be at least without Walcott with an ankle injury and the fate of captain Fabregas yet to be decided. Fabregas will have his hamstring injury assessed on Thursday morning but Walcott’s ankle sprain has already ruled him out of playing in Sunday’s Carling Cup final against Birmingham at Wembley.

Knowing the magnitude of the fixture, Arsenal straight away started with an attacking display. They created many chances with Wilshere being superb at midfield. Many half chances were created in the early minutes but missed mostly by Theo Walcott. It was in the 8th minute Arsenal got the breakthrough. Wilshere fired over a corner from the right. It was touched on to Bendtner at the far post. He returned the ball into the midst of the six-yard box for Squillaci to nod home from close-range. It was the Frenchman’s second goal of the season. It was all that the Gunners needed but had to pay the price almost minutes later when in 14th minute Fabregas pulled up his knee and was replaced by Arshavin. Since then Arsenal lacked in creating chances although they had a mammoth 70% of the possession of the game. Stoke played their typical game landing long crosses and throw-ins into the Arsenal box, but couldn’t really get the equalizer they needed. At half time, Arsenal were well in hold of the game but the concern of the captain’s injury was clearly visible in their eyes.

Second half, and the game started to intensify with Stoke dominating the attack. But Arsenal seemed well prepared to face off the team that almost a year ago broke the leg of Aaron Ramsey which almost ended his career. Arsenal too created chances but Stoke manged to stop the Gunners with a well organized defense a the back. It was in the second half that Arsenal got the second blow when Walcott went down. With 20 minutes left, he was hauled down by Dean Whitehead on the edge of the area and did not get up. He was stretchered off and Denilson came on. Stoke still pushed forward where possible but theirs was a blunt weapon. The closest they came to breaking the deadlock was when Pennant rippled the sidenetting from a free-kick. The final minutes were nervy but controlled. But in the final Arsenal got the three points they needed. These sorts of ground-out 1-0s are said to win you titles. Time will tell there.

Arsenal closed down the gap with Manchester United, who played a 0-0 draw in Champions League the same night, to 1 point. This will put pressure on United who will play 2 away premier league games than Arsenal until the gunners play in the same competition. United will travel next to Wigan, Liverpool and Chelsea in their upcoming fixtures. With United being rusty in away games this season, the fate of both United and Arsenal will be revealed in the next few games.