The Game

After positive results against Sunderland and Marseille, the Gunners are today in action in the English Premier League as they host Stoke City at the Emirates.

Many are referring to today’s game as a “turn the corner” game, a game that if won would finally see us bounce back from a very disappointing season start. I respectfully disagree as for Arsenal, the corner turn can only happen at one stage this season and that’s in May when the campaign will come to a close. We may turn pages, chapters, even books before that date but we can only be judges when the season ends.

And that’s because we’ve been in this situation before. We lose five games, we then win two and boom, we’re back on track. A player has ten disappointing games, he then does well in one and boom, he’s back and his attitude is fantastic.

No, I’m afraid this is not how it should work. Remember that if we honestly want to pick a game to which to attach the “corner turn” label, then that game has to be Chelsea, at Stamford Bridge, on October 29. Not tomorrow and not Tuesday.

In the meantime, we just need to keep adding confidence and self-belief to the team and hope to get all three points against the Potters, who by the way, are no longer just a physical Premier League team who adopt the hit ‘n hope approach to score goals. They improve and they showed it last season.

Anyway, as I said in yesterday’s preview, I’m confident going into today’s game and it will be interesting to see whether Arsene will decide to indeed start with Robin on the bench and in that case. who will take over in the offensive department.

And, until you wait for kick-off, check out why Arsene Wenger signed Per Mertesacker and also why Thomas Vermaelen decided to accept a new contract at Arsenal.

As always, please do join the discussion in our chat room which will also be active after the full time whistle. You will be glad to know that from this season, to provide a better chat experience to our readers, users can be banned if they post offensive comments.

Streaming Links

For those who don’t know where to watch the game, maybe we can help, follow this link for streaming options. Links are updated before and during the match.

The Line-Ups

Arsenal

Szczesny, Djourou, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Andre Santos, Song, Arteta, Ramsey, Walcott, Gervinho, Chamakh

Subs: Fabianski, Frimpong, Rosicky, Benayoun, Park, Arshavin, van Persie

Stoke City

Begovic; Wilkinson, Upson, Shawcross, Wilson; Delap, Whitehead, Whelan, Etherington; Crouch, Walters

Subs: Sorensen, Huth, Shotton, Diao, Palacios, Jerome, Jones

Half-Time Thoughts and Analysis

As the chat room has grown in popularity, my half-time thoughts as well as the comments of other Arsenal fans are now being discussed in the Arsenal Interactive chat room to which you can find a link at the bottom of this page. Please feel free to join the fun and share your point of view.