Arsenal travel to the Britannia Stadium today for a tricky away match against Stoke City, a club that has often caused trouble for the Gunners. However, times have changed for both Stoke and Arsenal and manager Arsene Wenger will want nothing less than the full three points to keep his team´s title fight alive and kicking.
Under the stewardship of Tony Pulis, Stoke became known as a rough and tough football team and the clubs dogged tactics often disrupted Arsenal. However, this seems to be a mentally improved Gunners team and new Stoke manager Mark Hughes has injected more fluid football into the team. Yes, Stoke can still mix it, but their style plays into Arsenal´s hands for the first time in years.
Wenger will need to be wary though, after-all, Stoke took a headline grabbing win at Old Trafford earlier this month. With Everton, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Manchester City and Bayern Munich coming up for Arsenal, the team will need to claim all the points here against a lesser team that has won just one game in its last 10 (albeit against Man Utd).
Arsenal won 4-1 against Sunderland last week, but the manager will certainly look to freshen up his team this week, with all eyes on Mesut Ozil. The club´s record signing has been off the boil of late and missed last week with a knock, but many perceived that he had in fact been dropped. Wenger and Ozil have spoken about the German´s struggles in adapting to the league, but he will likely start on the weekend, replacing Lukas Podolski.
The gaffer may be tempted to bring the inform Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain back into the fold after he yielded his starting place to Tomas Rosicky last weekend.
Whoever takes to the field, a win will be imperative as the club stares down an extremely tough March.