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With Arsenal claiming a narrow, hard-fought win over Stoke City at the Emirates Stadium, here are five points that one can take away from today afternoon’s encounter in North London.
“There is no bigger culture shock than Stoke when you come from Spain!” - Nacho Monreal, Arsenal #17
1.) Nacho Monreal is the real deal
The decision to field new signing Nacho Monreal ahead of Andre Santos at left-back today was one of genius. The Spaniard hardly put a foot wrong all game, and was a willing worker both on and off the ball.
By giving him his debut against Stoke at the Emirates, Wenger assured Monreal receives a proper introduction to the physical nature of English football (nobody does physical better than Stoke) and is given the confidence required to endear himself to the Arsenal fans.
With neat passing, excellent crossing and great positioning, Monreal looked a natural on the left and is a great player for youth product Kieran Gibbs to learn from. There will be sterner tests to come for the Spaniard, but he has settled into Arsenal very well.
2.) Stoke need to improve their away form to ascend up the table
Tony Pulis’ men have been excellent in the Premier League since coming up from the Championship five years ago, but their away record has been woeful this season. Having won just won and drawn six of their thirteen away games, Stoke find themselves placed in the middle of the table.
Performances at the Britannia Stadium have been very good for the Potters, where they receive the backing of officially Britain’s loudest fans, but when they travel away from their stadium perched on a hill, they need to play better.
Few of the players Stoke possess have the composure to get results away and with more experienced players in their side, they should be able to amass a string of results on the road.
3.) Asmir Begovic is world-class
Not just against Arsenal today, but Bosnian international Asmir Begovic always pulls off world-class saves when in goal for both club and country.
It is clear why Chelsea wanted him a while ago, but he is too talented to sit on the bench at a top club as he is best when on the field. A player of his calibre is surely destined to go places and make a name for himself.
Like most goalkeepers, he had to play second fiddle to a first choice custodian for a long time – Thomas Sorensen – in this case, but Begovic has grabbed his opportunity with both hands and looks destined to make the keeper’s berth his for the present at least.
4.) Injury free, Arsenal have excellent quality in depth
For the first time this season, Arsenal can claim to have two players available in every position on the pitch. And it showed today: the Gunners have now gone four games unbeaten for only the second time this season.
With Abou Diaby and Mikel Arteta returning from injury and Tomas Rosicky an unused substitute on the bench, Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey could be given a rest. Fatigue seemed to be taking its toll on the diminutive Spaniard, and he was able to inject more verve into the Arsenal team when he came onto the pitch with Lukas Podolski.
The same could be said about the German, who made the difference by scoring his twelfth goal of the season. Should the Gunners continue to remain fit – that will require a rather large slice of luck – they will definitely be able to string together a string of positive results.
5.) Stoke need a Plan B
Not much is common between Stoke and Arsenal, but the one thing that was lacking today was a Plan B. Arsenal managed – as they have in the past – to get away with it, but Stoke’s response was to bring on three forwards and continue to play their brand of clogger-style football.
Had they envisioned a Plan B where they resorted to picking holes in the opposition defence, the result could have been different. Arsenal were able to deal with the aerial threat Stoke produced in very scanty patches very easily and Wojciech Szczesny could have been chatting with the spectators all game.
Stoke certainly have the quality and personnel to switch to a Plan B and that could be crucial in helping them ascend the English Premier League table.
