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Arsenal crash out of the FA cup thanks to two goals from Ricardo Fuller.It was a victory Stoke deserved as they produced the better moments in a scrappy match, although it was not until the final quarter that they could exert their authority against a virtual Arsenal youth team.
The match marked the return of Arsenal veteran Sol Campell since the 2006 Champions League final where he eventually scored. The result also raises questions about manager Arsene Wenger’s decision to rest players and trust in youth.
The home side took the lead in the second minute when Fuller ghosted past the Arsenal defence and got to Delap’s throw-in ahead of Lukasz Fabianski to head in. Fuller should have won a penalty when caught by Silvestre but the striker stayed on his feet. Arsenal slowly worked their way into the game and got their equaliser thanks to some good fortune, first when awarded a free-kick for a handball by Whitehead and then when Denilson’s shot from the set-piece was deflected in.
And Stoke had the better of things for a while after as Arsenal struggled to gel. Sidibe made a strong run down the right flank before sending over an inviting cross that Fuller thumped home. Eight minutes later Stoke had sealed their progress to the next round as Etherington picked out Whitehead with a low cross and the midfielder coolly slotted in.
It was a well deserved victory for Stoke and should be an eye-opener for the Arsenal management. Practically speaking this was bound to happen at some stage or the other if Wenger was hell bent with playing his youth team. How can you expect players like young right-back Francis Coquelin to handle pressure from away fans and how can you throw away the chance of lifting a trophy which is devoid of teams like Manchester United and Liverpool. True he cannot play big guns in the match but then he should have enough stock with him for these matches.
They need to look into this otherwise the only trophy that Arsenal is seriously looking at is the Premier League and it is not going to be that easy this season when many of your players are either injured or out of form. The only positive for the Gunners from this match will be the performance of Emmanuel-Thomas who is looking to be a good prospect.
