Arsenal comfortably beat Stoke 3-1 thanks to goals from Aaron Ramsey, Per Mertesacker and Bacary Sagna, with record transfer Mesut Ozil having a hand in all 3 goals.

Pre-Match

Arsenal could not have gone into the game with much better form.

A win in France midweek meant that Arsenal have won a record 10 away games in a row. The loss to Villa was looking increasingly like a blip.

Starting Line-Up

18 year old Serge Gnabry was the only change to the starting line up from midweek as Theo Walcott missed out through an abdomen injury, rather than illness that was widely reported. Arteta and Vermaelen both made the bench, as did new signing Viviano. Bendtner was also on the bench.

Arsenal team: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Wilshere, Flamini, Ramsey, Ozil, Gnabry, Giroud

Subs: Viviano, Monreal, Jenkinson, Arteta, Miyaichi, Bendtner

First Half

An early free kick as Charlie Adam set the pace for the game by hacking down Wilshere just outside the area gave Mesut Ozil an opportunity to make a perfect start on his home debut. A reasonable effort was terribly saved by Begovic, allowing Ramsey to pick up his seventh goal in eight games. His start to this campaign has been phenomenal and to get one against Stoke must have meant all the more for the Welshman.

After the goal, Stoke began to hold on to the ball more as they were trying to get the game level. A free kick just outside the area and corner proved little opposition for Szczesny. 26 minutes in and a stunning ball through by Nzonsi caught Mertesacker out as Arnautovic ran between him and Sagna to volley the ball into the post. The ball fell into the path of Geoff Cameron, who got his first goal for Stoke.

Around the 30 minute mark, some tidy build up play saw Arsenal get a corner after a blocked shot from Wilshere. Mertesacker’s header was subsequently saved on the line by Pieters. The next one wasn’t. The captain’s header saw the game tilt back in Arsenal’s favour. Mertesacker’s goal meant his fellow German got an assist on his first outing at the Emirates.

Second Half

Gnabry had a long range shot caught by Begovic just after half time. Huth showed exactly why everybody hates Stoke by body checking Gnabry as he was set to be through on goal. The ref played advantage and the chance was saved by Giroud. Another foul, minutes later, resulted in Ozil floating a nice ball in that ended up coming to nothing.

Stoke again began to increase their share of possession without having too many clear cut chances. This is exactly the type of game that Arsenal have screwed up in the past; an opposition who are clearly inferior to us, being let back into the game through a defensive cock up. From 70 minutes all we needed was a refereeing shocker to let them get level and heads would have been down, the game could have been anyone’s. Unfortunately for Stoke, Arsenal have Mesut Ozil. A free kick from around 40 yards out saw the German pick out Sagna who headed the ball back across the goal. 3-1 Arsenal.

Post-Match Comments

After the game Wenger said:

“We were fluent in the first half, in the second half we looked jaded, but showed we can dig deep and fight”.

'It's been a very good week for us. You don't expect to score three goals from set-pieces against Stoke

The boss was quick to heap on the compliments on the man with the most assists in the league, saying about Ozil:

“When you look at the numbers it’s not a coincidence. He has shown he is a great player”

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