Stoke City 1-0 Arsenal: 5 Talking Points, Premier League 2017/18

5) Wenger's baffling substitutions see Arsenal lose momentum

Arsene Wenger's substitutions against Stoke City lost them the game

Arsene Wenger's discipline sometimes tends to be his own undoing. With the Gunners down 1-0 and unable to find a way through Stoke's defence, he waited till the 66th-minute mark to make his first substitution when the team was clearly bereft of ideas.

Only Aaron Ramsey and Lacazette seemed to be making an effort to move the ball forward while Mesut Ozil had a poor game without any players ahead of him free to receive a pass.

With Bellerin and Welbeck also clearly struggling, Wenger chose to take off Kolasinac for Olivier Giroud, pushing Oxlade-Chamberlain to a right-back role in what was now a back four with Mustafi, Monreal and Bellerin.

Later, he brought on Theo Walcott and Alex Iwobi for Lacazette and Xhaka instead of taking off Welbeck and Ozil. Xhaka may have made an error early on but the north London side looked soft in midfield without his presence and lacked the ability to win the ball back quickly (he had made 3 interceptions in the game) with time running out.

Alex Iwobi had no idea what to do with the ball after coming on

It forced both Ozil and Ramsey to drop deeper leaving little to the imagination in a front three where Walcott barely got on the ball while Iwobi was unclear on what he needed to do to get in the final third.

Wenger was clearly going route one with Giroud and Welbeck on the pitch and Oxlade-Chamberlain looking to find them with crosses. But both strikers were not on the same wavelength and Giroud's knockdowns and passes (which worked so well with Lacazette) were wasted with Welbeck in the wrong positions.

Arsenal haven't started a Premier League season with back-to-back wins since 2009/10.Another slow start to the campaign. ? pic.twitter.com/cWT7uw2Zke

— Squawka Football (@Squawka) August 19, 2017