Match Day 36: Arsenal v Stoke; Match Preview

Well, here it is the start of the final three games of the season. With pretty much nothing to play for except pride, Arsenal return to play against a club that is completely opposite of anything that Arsenal stands for. It is club Arsene Wenger likened to a rugby side and it is a club that is memorable to Arsenal fans – for all the wrong reasons. It is Stoke.

When this fixture occurred at the Britannia last season Arsenal succeeded in breaking a run of 4 successive matches there without a win. The 3-1 drubbing of Stoke last season though was marred by Shawcross’ wreckless challenge on Aaron Ramsey that left the young welshman with his Ankle dangling and broken. It caused a near riot of Arsenal fans that were there. The acrimony though was loud from Arsenal supporters everywhere.

This match though sees the return of Aaron Ramsey to the scene of the crime. With Cesc Fabregas likely to miss the match because of his lingering thigh injury, Ramsey will likely get the start again alongside Jack Wilshere. Ramsey looks to be returning to his pre-injury form and was the cog that won last week’s match against Manchester United.

Stepping aside for a moment from the obvious story line associated with this tie – the midfield pairing of Wilshere and Ramsey offers Arsenal fans a glimpse of the future. If as we all expect Cesc Fabregas leaves at some point for Barcelona, Ramsey and Wilshere are likley to be the pivotal players in the Arsenal attack. The tandem was quite good as was the whole midfield last week. Normally with Fabregas in the lineup, Song and Wilshere rotate on who stays back to play the DM role. But with Ramsey in the midfield, Wenger opted to have Song stay rooted to middle and let Ramsey and Wilshere go forward. This was part of the reason why I thought Arsenal did well against United last week.

Song was solid in the middle taking away any of the attacking threat which left Ramsey and Wilshere to venture forward and join that attack and use their creativity to try and open up United. While Stoke are not United they will present a challenge in the fact they will likely play with most of the team behind the ball. The directness of Wilshere and Ramsey in the middle will be important to trying to create something within the congestion Arsenal are likely to face. Song can sit in the middle and provide the necessary cover to the CBs in case Jones breaks free.

The other major story line with this tie is the possible return of Thomas Vermaelen to the squad. Vermaelen has been out since early September with an achilles injury that finally had surgery in March to fix. TV5 featured in a reserve match last week for a full 90 minutes and based on all the match reports I read was stellar. He won nearly every header that was there for him and was distributing the ball with tons of passes forward. As good as Djourou and Koscielny have been defencively this is something they lack in their game and it is why when Vermaelen is back fully fit will be one of the two starting CBs. With Djourou working on passing a fitness test, Vermaelen could be back in the squad for today’s fixture.

Like I said, there isn’t much left to play for. Sure, Arsenal are mathmatically in it. And should Chelsea and Arsenal win than the last two weeks might actually be interesting.  But really its all about pride at this point. Some people are going to have to show that they should stay here next season. Though for the most part many of these 11 aren’t likely to get shipped out. Some of the subs, the same can’t be said for them.

How the Match Should Play Out:
Honestly the pressure is off and Arsenal play well without the pressure. Walcott is continuing to show that his pace is a problem for teams. Robin Van Persie is hitting more than he is missing and with Nasri facing a fitness test Arshavin will feature with them up front. This is still more than enough to handle Stoke and while players and manager won’t admit it, the team wants to drill Stoke into the ground. I suspect that Arsenal will get the early changes – it just remains to be seen if they sink them. If Arsenal can get 2 goals in the first half its toast for Tony Pulis’ side.

Players to Watch:
Arsenal: Aaron Ramsey. That was easy. It was 15 months ago when Ryan Shawcross needlessly and wrecklessly snapped Ramsey’s ankle in two. Now back at full health and already showing that he is returning to pre-injury form Ramsey will be the focal point as he needs to get beyond this match to show he is mentally past the injury.

Stoke: Ryan Shawcross. He really isn’t that kind of player. My ass. Stoke aren’t really that kind of team. My ass. Nuff said.

Probable Starting XI:

Injuries and Suspensions:
Arsenal: Fabianski (shoulder) Fabregas (thigh) Nasri (hamstring)

Stoke:  Etherington (hamstring) Fuller (achilles)  Sidibe (Achilles) Higginbotham (knee)

Leading Scorers:
Arsenal: Van Persie 19  (15 league) Nasri 15 (10 league)

Stoke: Jones 11 (8 league) Walters 11 (5 league)

Last Meeting: (EPL)
Arsenal: 1

Stoke: 0

Goals For:
Arsenal: 2.1 (away)

Stoke: 1.6 (home)

Goals Against:
Arsenal: 1.4 (away)

Stoke 0.9 (home)

Last Five:
Arsenal: WLDDW

Stoke: DWDLD

Goal Difference:
Arsenal: 32

Stoke: 0

Match Officials:
Referee: Mark Halsey
Assistant referees: Ceri Richards & Glenn Turner
Fourth official: Michael Oliver

Broadcast Information:
US: FSC 9:00AM EST

UK: Sky Sports 1 1400 BST

GAMEDAY CHAT: It’s Open!!!!!!
www.youaremyarsenal.com/gamedaychat

YAMA Prediction:
Arsenal: 2

Stoke:  0

The Final Word

I have read with some sense of disbelief that recent comments by Stoke fans and the local press in the buildup to this match. And frankly as I read it you wonder why Gooners have such a dislike for them and their team.

First some how they are of the nature that somehow Ryan Shawcross is entitled to Ramsey accepting the apology that Shawcross offered after the match. I’m sorry the lad nearly ended Ramsey’s career. Frankly Shawcross is lucky that Ramsey doesn’t clock him the head the first time they meet. What Stoke fans fail to recognize is this – Ramsey missed an entire year of his season. He was improving game over game. He saw Jack Wilsher’s ascendancy and likely was thinking – that should be me. But no. Because some no-talent useless fuck  came in high on a 50-50 Ramsey had to have surgery, have his career set back and is only just now slowly showing some form. And as Arsenal fans are all to0 familiar there is the mental aspect to that recovery that comes into effect.

To give you a taste of the comments:

Ramsey is a c**t, too spinless and bitter to accept Ryan’s apology. I hope he gets it so bad he’s frightened off the pitch a la Commons and SWP

Or this. . .

he’ll break it again
he’ll break it agaiiiin
RYAN SHAWCROSS
he’ll break it again

maybe this one. . .

Fuckin have it Ramsey you whining bitter Welsh c**t. I hope he gets it snapped again.

And to further show their ignorance, I kind of love this one:

i think the arsenal scummers should be appluading whelan, he potentially saved ramsays life.
ramsay never came out in public to thank him either, hes a trully classless pric

I guess the spotty fuck missed this:

“I would like to thank the medical team here at Arsenal for their efforts as well as the staff at both hospitals. Glenn Whelan was especially kind and I really appreciated his immediate assistance on the pitch as well as the medical support from Stoke City.” – Aaron Ramsey

The other one I read was that a fan actually blamed Nicklas Bendtner for tugging on Ryan’s kit as the reason he went in late on Ramsey. Okay. If that is what you need to sleep at night fair’s fuck to ya. But your player did, has done it before and likely will do it again. So long as we defend players, because their nice chaps, or they didn’t do it intentionally, the game and teams like Stoke will always be looked upon as neanderthals.

Look, I personally, don’t think that Shawcross went in to break Ramsey’s ankle. I also don’t want the physical nature of the game taken out. But when you manage your players to “put it in” on a club, be it Arsenal or any other club, you invite your players to wrecklessly challenge oppposing players which more times than naught is going to result in injuries like what happened to Ramsey, Eduardo, Adebayour, Diaby. . . or almost happened to Scott Parker and others. Tony Pulis deserves as much blame for the way he manages his team. The fans, at least those like our friends I have quoted above deserve all the stick they bloody get. The sooner the kind of mindless play like this is taken out of the game, the better off the game will be for it.

For Stoke fans who say he should apologize – get over it. Ryan Shawcross got to sit out three matches and play for England in the immediate aftermath of the injury. Ramsey had 15 months of surgery, therapy, and rehab without ever knowing if he was going to play again. Some one tell me how an apology fixes all of that?

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