Arsenal 3-1 Stoke: Three things we learnt

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Stoke improved, but their 35-year hoodoo remains

Stoke City came into this fixture in fine form with just one defeat in their previous nine games, winning on five occasions. However, all of their victories during this period had come against teams in the bottom half of the table and a visit to North London provided Mark Hughes with a more accurate measurement of how far his side has come since the start of the season. The Potters, backed by an extremely vocal contingent of travelling supporters, certainly went toe-to-toe with the hosts in the opening thirty minutes and Charlie Adam’s converted penalty was a just reward for their positive, attacking approach. However, Walcott’s equaliser on the stroke of half term proved to be the turning point and The Potters were increasingly forced onto the back foot in the second period.

It is now 35 years since Stoke defeated Arsenal on their travels, a run that traces back to 1981, and The Potters have now lost all of their last 14 visits to this particular district of London. However, Mark Hughes will have plenty of positives to take from the match, not least the number of chances that they created, especially during the first half, and if Mame Diouf and Peter Crouch had converted chances in the second period with score set at 2-1 then the visitors may still have claimed a point. In the end Arsenal’s greater quality showed and few of the travelling supporters would have been able to complain at either the result or their team’s positive overall performance.