ARSENAL VS STOKE PREVIEW & PREDICTION
Arsenal gets a visit from Stoke City on Sunday. Only the Europa League can actually save the season of Arsenal, but the supporters expect that results are also achieved in the Premier League. When Stoke City comes to the coffee, Arsenal only counts for victory.
Arsenal:
For Arsenal, this Premier League season seems like a night candle to go out. The Gunners are in sixth place and Arsenal will not qualify for European football through the Premier League. The Champions League places have been out of reach for The Gunners for some time, but with eight points behind Chelsea it is not expected that Arsenal will qualify for the Europa League through the competition. That is not a disaster, but then The Gunners have to win the Europa League this season and then they are also active in the Champions League next season.
Manchester United managed to win the Europa League last season and Arsenal must be successful. Atlético Madrid appears to be the biggest competitor for Arsenal at the moment, but the Spaniard also have to focus partly on the Primera División. The last competitive game that Arsenal played was also in the Europa League. More than two weeks ago, AC Milan was beaten 3-1 by The Gunners and there was no Premier League-football for Arsenal that weekend. Arsène Wenger has therefore been able to prepare for the game against Stoke City for more than two weeks and normally Arsenal has to be able to win The Potters in-house.
On Thursday-evening, the Europa League-game against CSKA Moscow is scheduled for Arsenal. However, the Russians come to visit at the Emirates Stadium and so the expectation is that Wenger will start with a great team against Stoke City. Wenger can not have Santi Cazorla at Stoke City alone. Alexandre Lacazette, Jack Wilshere and Sead Kolašinac have been hit by injury problems in recent weeks, but the trio has recovered.
Stoke City:
At Stoke City it is now one for twelve. The Potters are just below the mark, but now they have to start winning matches if they do not want to relegate to the Championship this season. The last victory of Stoke City in the Premier League dates back to January 20 and The Potters also lost their last two league matches. With Manchester City (0-2) and Everton (1-2), two opponents visited the bet365 Stadium in the past few weeks with a lot of quality and of Manchester City and Everton you can lose as Stoke. Nonetheless, those defeats have ensured that the competitors have sprung up at Stoke City.
The Potters have to visit Arsenal this weekend and have also played a game more than most competitors. Of course Paul Lambert would like to do everything he can to stay with Stoke City in the Premier League, but it is not that Lambert has a great selection. Earlier this season Stoke City managed to win Arsenal 1-0, but the last time Stoke City won twice in a season of Arsenal was in 1975. All in all, everything points to The Potters again this weekend will stand empty-handed.
This season is clearly wrong in the defense of Stoke City. No team from the Premier League cashed more goals than The Potters and there is also the problem at Stoke City. In the past season, teams have always had trouble scoring against Stoke City, but it is so difficult that this season is apparently out of the question and that means that The Potters are now so bad at it. Incidentally, Paul Lambert suspended the Dutchman Ibrahim Afellay and he will therefore not be in action for Stoke City for the time being.
PREDICTION: Over 2.5 goals @ 1.40
