Funny old world as Greavsie used to say to Saint.....from the opening 10 weeks of the Premiership season Stoke gathered 7 points,week 11 saw a 3 day haul of 6 points from consecutive home wins.
Make no bones about it Arsenal were never really at the races in this game.Stoke were in their faces from the start,and quite a few of the visitors did not really fancy it much.
Stoke scored a goal in each half both from Rory Delap low trajectory rocket throw ins.On 10 minutes a throw from Delap zipped in, reached Fuller,who joyfully knocked it into the net past Almunia.
In the 73rd minute another colossal throw from the left was flicked on by Ryan Shawcross for Olofinjana to chest the ball into the Arsenal net.He wasn't bothering about how dignified it looked.....ball chested down, Olo falls forward,bobbling ball hits him again (chest? head?...not sure) and goes into the net.Impossible to defend against.....training ground move? Stunner!!!
Stoke two goals to the good,cue delirious celebrations amongst the 24,000 Stokies around the ground and amongst the players on the pitch.
So 12th in the table tonight with 13 points from 11 games ....and not lookingout of place amongst the big boys!
Arsenal ended the match with only 9 players on the pitch for the last few minutes.Sub Van Persie had been on the pitch less than 12 minutes when he was dispatched to the dressing room by referee Rob Styles for an idiotic and pointless challenge on Stoke keeper Sorensen.Another sub,England's Theo Walcott was taken off with a damaged shoulder.Arsenal did score a Clichy consolation goal in added on time when his free kick,initially heading wide, was deflected just inside Sorensen's right post.
Arsenal had possession but today were unable to find their killer touch,largely due to the immense efforts of the combative Stoke team.Stoke themselves played some good football,and had other chances to score,the most notable of which was a fine Almunia save from Salif Diao.
No comments:
Post a Comment