In the marathon of the Premier League, fixtures against the big clubs might drive the media narrative, but it's weekends against the middling clubs that are the foundation of any title winning side. So after a deserved defeat to Stoke City, it should set the alarms bells ringing.

Wojciech Szczesny - 6 – He couldn't do much with the winning penalty, but made a bad handling error early in the second-half.

Bacary Sagna – 7 – Sagna didn't get a great deal of help, especially when going forward, but he was always a willing “out-ball”. He put in some decent crosses, but often only had Olivier Giroud to aim at.

Per Mertesacker – 7 – Despite the result, Mertesacker gave a solid display. He controlled the line of his back four competently, often got the better of Peter Crouch, and made some key interventions.

Laurent Koscielny – 6 – Koscielny had a solid game, for the most part. But there's often the worry of him losing control on occasion. His handball for the penalty wasn't deliberate, but his arm was in an unnecessarily dangerous position, and it cost Arsenal the match.

Kieran Gibbs – 6 – Gibbs defended solidly, but didn't make the attacking inroads that we're used to seeing from him. His final ball from the left hand side was uncharacteristically poor.

Jack Wilshere – 5 – A frustrating afternoon for Wilshere. He was often a target for fouls from the Stoke midfield, but was also careless in possession, and ran down blind alleys far too often. Was substituted late on for Yaya Sanogo.

Mikel Arteta – 6 – Arteta defended pretty well in front of his defence. But the more celebrated part of his game let him down. He failed to dictate the pace of the match, as Stoke had a lot more of the midfield exchanges that the Spaniard would have liked.

Tomas Rosicky –  6 – The Czech tried to buzz around the final third, but wasn't able to link with Giroud, or make the attacking inroads that he managed to do against Sunderland a week earlier.

Santi Cazorla – 6 – Cazorla's performance mirrored much of Arsenal's. Sluggish early on, and begun to improve when the situation was at its most dire. He's had a slight dip after some impressive recent form.

Lukas Podolski – 5 –  The German played far too narrow, seeming too eager to be involved, rather than creating space for his teammates. He was probably lucky not to have been substituted earlier than he was.

Olivier Giroud – 6 – One should have a degree of sympathy for Giroud, as he was targeted by Stoke, especially for some vile conduct from Charlie Adam. But that shouldn't overlook that he had a poor game, and struggled to get any change out of Ryan Shawcross – which is a sentence that pains me to write.

SUBS

Mesut Ozil –  N/A – Failed to spark Arsenal into life.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – N/A – Played well. Created two decent chances.

Yaya Sanogo – N/A – Missed a gilt-edged chance to snatch at point at the death.

I think many Gooners thought our season could begin to unravel in March, but I doubt many saw it beginning against Stoke. It was a soporific display, which got the result it deserved. The fact that we didn't have a single shot on target in the second-half speaks volumes, and makes it critical that we don't get knocked out of the FA Cup next Saturday.

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