A good performance from us. Stoke's penalty shouldn't have been, from first sight at least, maybe there is more evidence on the highlights. After that though we played very well, created a decent amount and in the end deserved to win. Walcott looked sharper than he has been in recent weeks, hopefully he gets back to his early season form. Mustafi out for 3 to 4 weeks with a hamstring injury is a blow but it gives Gabriel a chance. Bellerin being back is a plus, especially now Shkodran is injured. Not much else to say, nobody played badly and a few players played well. Glad Oezil is scoring as well as creating.
@Mega- Having seen it back, it's looks more of one than live (largely because slow-motion replays make everything look worse), but I wouldn't say it's "blatant" because that usually requires intent a la pulling somebody's shirt to prevent them from getting to the ball (Xhaka being held against Spurs for example). Not quite sure where Granit could've gone to avoid being run into. If Lee Mason believed it was an intentional elbow, why wasn't Xhaka carded? Had he been, then I would've understood his thinking. If he thought it was an accidental elbow but reckless then it's still a yellow. If it's an accidental elbow and not reckless then it isn't even a foul. Allen made an absolute meal of it which helped the ref reach his conclusion. All in all, it doesn't matter because we won and Granit didn't receive an unjustified card. I'd just like some consistency so players know what and what not to do.
Allen gets a penalty for running into Xhaka? I know Xhaka can be clumsy, but there was no contact there. Anyway, lovely finish from Ozil, little bit like van Persie's at the World Cup. And trust Hughes to revert to type, bring on Crouch, put him up against the fullback, and bang crosses onto his head. Leopard never changes its spots, eh?
özil just can't assist anymore ! Onlz one ! assist in 14 games this season and also only 2 keypasses in this game. Not in the top 20 keypass wise, last season first !
@neumi17- Yes but assists aren't a good way to measure a person's creative influence because it's 50% dependent on another player. Last season he created the most number of chances in the top 5 leagues by far (144, average of just over 4 per game) but because our players were poor at converting, he only ended up with 19 assists. Di Maria created 46 fewer chances yet ended up with the same number of assists. Had Mesut's chances been converted at the same rate as Angel's, he'd have had 28 last season. This season Mesut isn't creating as much but that largely has to do with Alexis playing in the 9. Alexis moves around and sometimes inhabits the areas Mesut likes to play but the flip side of that is Oezil is scoring more. He will in all likelihood finish in the top 5 players in the top 5 leagues in terms of chances created AND will have 12-15 league goals.
Lots of Arsenal fans fancy the clean sheet here. Despite Stokes poor record at the Emirates I think the gunners will be consistent and concede a goal. Arsenal to squeak a close 2-1 win. Goes without saying Sanchez MOTM
I poorly know the WS website - so I have a quesion: does anyone know if somewhere on this page you can see the percentage of accurate predictions of WS team, I mean all their predictions, a kind of chart how each of us has on our own profile ('Three-way Predictions' chart)?
@afx Whoscored is a fantastic site. I don't place my bets without considering their stance on a match. But that is not to say they get it right 100% all times as there is no such site. No matter the degree of accuracy of any site your personal discretion is advised.
Stoke tend to play very well against us at the Britannia and mediocre at the Emirates. Hopefully that continues. We seem to be unscathed from the trip to Basel and I expect 8 of those to start here with Cech, Coquelin and Chamberlain coming in for Opsina, Ramsey and Iwobi. The latter 2 were poor against Basel, pretty much every pass Iwobi got bounced off of him and Ramsey was invisible for large portions. Wenger likes the defensive solidity Coquelin and Xhaka gives us so I think they will start together whenever possible. Perez could start on the LW with Chamberlain RW. Having Gabriel behind, somebody who isn't that adventurous going forward (or comfortable being at least) will provide Alex with a certain freedom to attack. I think we'll win and would like to see an end to these needless consolation goals we keep letting in out of nowhere. It's purely a concentration issue but one which needs to be eradicated. Being positive, 3-0.
@SteveHyland Walcott played well, even though I thought Lucas might challenge for his place too. The competition in the squad is very high at the moment.
Mustafi injury means Holding and BFG could see some expected game time.
I think Ramsey will partner Xhaka in midfield and Perez will start on the right wing instead of Walcott and Ox could start on the left wing! Either way I dont see Sanchez not scoring nor Arsenal not winning at home! Stoke are on a good run but Arsenal are on a bigger run atm and at home! I think 2/3:0! Stoke dont score much away!
Mark Hughes always dusts off the rugby players for this one. But his ogres can never handle playing in a civilised environment, so we generally win comfortably.
Arsenal will surely win this game. But the scoreline depends on how Wenger sets up team. I would go for same backline that played Westham. Xhaka-Ramsey; Chambo-Özil-Perez; Sanchez.
Walcott and Giroud should come off the bench and either of them can score.
Home team to score at least 2.
@mistawess agree with the line-up except for Ramsey. He really hasn't started very well and I think coquelin's physical presence will be greatly needed here. He will also help gabriel deal with arnautovic who is in my eyes, stokes most dangerous player here.
We are usually better than Stoke at home than away, having a good record against them there. I'm a bit wary though as Stoke are in good form and have sorted their defence. But perhaps injuries will be their undoing. 2-1 The Arsenal.
Can someone please explain why Coquelin has defensive contribution as a weakness on his profile? This is beyond ridiculous when they have ball interception and tackling as strengths, interception very strong . He's a good defensive mid, complete nonsense and an insult from whoscored putting his defensive contribution as a weakness when that's the best part , and the point, of his game /style
After the performance at west ham I think we should win this too. Stoke are on reasonable form and they do have some quality players but Arsenal should do this one. Gabriel is likely to start at RB until Bellerin is back. In fact same lineup as against West ham. Don't think we'll keep the clean sheet so 3-1
A good performance from us. Stoke's penalty shouldn't have been, from first sight at least, maybe there is more evidence on the highlights. After that though we played very well, created a decent amount and in the end deserved to win. Walcott looked sharper than he has been in recent weeks, hopefully he gets back to his early season form. Mustafi out for 3 to 4 weeks with a hamstring injury is a blow but it gives Gabriel a chance. Bellerin being back is a plus, especially now Shkodran is injured. Not much else to say, nobody played badly and a few players played well. Glad Oezil is scoring as well as creating.
@SteveHyland blatant penalty.
@Mega- Having seen it back, it's looks more of one than live (largely because slow-motion replays make everything look worse), but I wouldn't say it's "blatant" because that usually requires intent a la pulling somebody's shirt to prevent them from getting to the ball (Xhaka being held against Spurs for example). Not quite sure where Granit could've gone to avoid being run into. If Lee Mason believed it was an intentional elbow, why wasn't Xhaka carded? Had he been, then I would've understood his thinking. If he thought it was an accidental elbow but reckless then it's still a yellow. If it's an accidental elbow and not reckless then it isn't even a foul. Allen made an absolute meal of it which helped the ref reach his conclusion. All in all, it doesn't matter because we won and Granit didn't receive an unjustified card. I'd just like some consistency so players know what and what not to do.
@SteveHyland It seems like Granit was just shielding, but because Allen is so much shorter, it looks like an elbow.
Allen gets a penalty for running into Xhaka? I know Xhaka can be clumsy, but there was no contact there. Anyway, lovely finish from Ozil, little bit like van Persie's at the World Cup. And trust Hughes to revert to type, bring on Crouch, put him up against the fullback, and bang crosses onto his head. Leopard never changes its spots, eh?
özil just can't assist anymore ! Onlz one ! assist in 14 games this season and also only 2 keypasses in this game. Not in the top 20 keypass wise, last season first !
@neumi17- Yes but assists aren't a good way to measure a person's creative influence because it's 50% dependent on another player. Last season he created the most number of chances in the top 5 leagues by far (144, average of just over 4 per game) but because our players were poor at converting, he only ended up with 19 assists. Di Maria created 46 fewer chances yet ended up with the same number of assists. Had Mesut's chances been converted at the same rate as Angel's, he'd have had 28 last season. This season Mesut isn't creating as much but that largely has to do with Alexis playing in the 9. Alexis moves around and sometimes inhabits the areas Mesut likes to play but the flip side of that is Oezil is scoring more. He will in all likelihood finish in the top 5 players in the top 5 leagues in terms of chances created AND will have 12-15 league goals.
@neumi17 Just ignore the statistics, he is playing much better than last season.
@neumi17 hardly his fault the strikers aren't putting away the chances. 36 key passes now this season which is the fourth highest in the PL
Is there any chance to see Bellerin instead of Gabriel? Let me know.
@Gabriele07 Yes
pure 1
at home arsenal should win but stoke have had a couple of good games lately and can be a tricky side to break down, arsenal 1-0 / 2-0 to arsenal
Lots of Arsenal fans fancy the clean sheet here. Despite Stokes poor record at the Emirates I think the gunners will be consistent and concede a goal. Arsenal to squeak a close 2-1 win. Goes without saying Sanchez MOTM
I poorly know the WS website - so I have a quesion: does anyone know if somewhere on this page you can see the percentage of accurate predictions of WS team, I mean all their predictions, a kind of chart how each of us has on our own profile ('Three-way Predictions' chart)?
@afx Whoscored is a fantastic site. I don't place my bets without considering their stance on a match. But that is not to say they get it right 100% all times as there is no such site. No matter the degree of accuracy of any site your personal discretion is advised.
@afx There is'nt a chart becausethey are never right
@cani08 I thought so too
@afx Seems like you were fishing for a negative comment.
@mulati I don't care
We haven't won with a 2:0 result for ages in the PL and we conceded a goal in the last five league games, so I predict a 2:0 Arsenal win.
FT 1:2
Stoke tend to play very well against us at the Britannia and mediocre at the Emirates. Hopefully that continues. We seem to be unscathed from the trip to Basel and I expect 8 of those to start here with Cech, Coquelin and Chamberlain coming in for Opsina, Ramsey and Iwobi. The latter 2 were poor against Basel, pretty much every pass Iwobi got bounced off of him and Ramsey was invisible for large portions. Wenger likes the defensive solidity Coquelin and Xhaka gives us so I think they will start together whenever possible. Perez could start on the LW with Chamberlain RW. Having Gabriel behind, somebody who isn't that adventurous going forward (or comfortable being at least) will provide Alex with a certain freedom to attack. I think we'll win and would like to see an end to these needless consolation goals we keep letting in out of nowhere. It's purely a concentration issue but one which needs to be eradicated. Being positive, 3-0.
@SteveHyland Walcott played well, even though I thought Lucas might challenge for his place too. The competition in the squad is very high at the moment. Mustafi injury means Holding and BFG could see some expected game time.
I think Ramsey will partner Xhaka in midfield and Perez will start on the right wing instead of Walcott and Ox could start on the left wing! Either way I dont see Sanchez not scoring nor Arsenal not winning at home! Stoke are on a good run but Arsenal are on a bigger run atm and at home! I think 2/3:0! Stoke dont score much away!
A case of when football happen.
Mark Hughes always dusts off the rugby players for this one. But his ogres can never handle playing in a civilised environment, so we generally win comfortably.
Arsenal will surely win this game. But the scoreline depends on how Wenger sets up team. I would go for same backline that played Westham. Xhaka-Ramsey; Chambo-Özil-Perez; Sanchez. Walcott and Giroud should come off the bench and either of them can score. Home team to score at least 2.
@mistawess agree with the line-up except for Ramsey. He really hasn't started very well and I think coquelin's physical presence will be greatly needed here. He will also help gabriel deal with arnautovic who is in my eyes, stokes most dangerous player here.
We are usually better than Stoke at home than away, having a good record against them there. I'm a bit wary though as Stoke are in good form and have sorted their defence. But perhaps injuries will be their undoing. 2-1 The Arsenal.
Can someone please explain why Coquelin has defensive contribution as a weakness on his profile? This is beyond ridiculous when they have ball interception and tackling as strengths, interception very strong . He's a good defensive mid, complete nonsense and an insult from whoscored putting his defensive contribution as a weakness when that's the best part , and the point, of his game /style
@Mega Who scored is good for compiling raw statistics for your own analysis... but the algorithms they use could use some refining, to put it lightly.
@Mega Most likely another bug in the algorithm.
After the performance at west ham I think we should win this too. Stoke are on reasonable form and they do have some quality players but Arsenal should do this one. Gabriel is likely to start at RB until Bellerin is back. In fact same lineup as against West ham. Don't think we'll keep the clean sheet so 3-1