Premier League match time arrives at the Emirates as Arsenal get set to host Stoke on Wednesday, February 23, in a first leg game that was originally scheduled in December, and got postponed owing to snow.
Arsenal are coming off a 2-0 home win against Wolves, in match week 27. Van Persie scoed a brace for the Gunners who went ahead 1-0 on 16 minutes, when the Dutchman volleyed one into the Wolves net. In match week 26, Wenger’s men had squandered a 4-0 lead away at Sunderland, but this time around, they ensured that there was no repetition. Wolves never looked threatening and after Van Persie got his second goal 11 minutes after the break, the score stood at 2-0, the final result. It was a tale of missed opportunities for the Emirates squad;. Van Persie himself missed a second soon after his first strike. Arshavin also had only the goalkeeper to beat, off a Van Persie corner, in another missed scoring opportunity. Fabregas was a third player to rue a missed chance on a day, when a 6-0 score might not have been unwarranted.
In match week 27, Stoke lost 1-0 away at Birmingham. The game appeared heading for a listless stalemate, when 3 minutes into injury time Zigic latched on to a cross from Jerome and headed the ball home for Birmingham. Birmingham had the better proportion of possession and would have felt relieved to bank full points against an obdurate Stoke. In a brief spell of domination, Stoke got a sniff at the Birmingham goal when John Carew got a shot in, only to see it blocked. Pennant had a free-kick, after being brought down by a rough tackle by Larsson; the shot beat everyone but missed the post by a couple of feet. Stoke were fortunate not have a penalty awarded against them when a Bentley drive was blocked by Huth using his hand for the purpose. In the end., the result was a fair reflection of the strengths of the respective teams in the game.
Head to head, Arsenal have established a 3-1 lead over Stoke in 4 league games between the sides.
Of their last 10 league games, Arsenal have won 6, drawn 3 and lost 1; Stoke have won 4 and lost the remaining 6 of their last 10. In 13 home games, this season, Arsena have registered 9 wins, one draw and 3 losses, while Stoke have won 3 of 13 away agames, drawing one and losing the remaining 9.
On current form, Stoke will need a large slice of luck to be able to prevent Arsenal from banking full points from the game.
Arsenal had the following men in their startng eleven against Wolves: Szczesny, Sagna, Djourou, Koscielny, Clichy, Song, Fabregas, Wilshere, Walcott, van Persie and Arshavin. Denilson, Bendtner and Chamakh featured as substitutes.
Stoke’s starting eleven against Birmingham comprised:Begovic, Delap, Huth, Shawcross, Pugh, Pennant, Whitehead, Wilson, Walters, Jones and Carew. Whelan and Fuller were used as substitutes.
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