Anyway fast forward a few years and the poor Stoke supporters are very angry and upset that Ramsey didn’t like having his leg broken by an out of control idiot. How very dare he? After being subjected to abuse from the Stoke fans ever since that day he put his finger to his lips when he scored against them this season this has upset a very sensitive support who can dish it out but cannot take a fraction of it back. A tiny, tiny fraction I may add. They want to sing anti Ramsey songs today without taking into consideration that he will not be in the squad today. Probably not even at the ground so good luck with that.

I’ve expressed my dislike of today’s opponents many times on this blog, and quite clearly they feel the same about Arsenal but for different reasons obviously. They dislike Arsenal because we had the temerity to go to Stoke and try and play football to win a game. They didn’t like that very much so were fully on-board the Arsenal don’t like it em up narrative that was doing the rounds at the time which as we know meant that teams were allowed to go beyond the rules to stop Arsenal from playing well you know, football. This was fully supported by newspapers, television highlight shows and opposition football fans.

Arsène Wenger had said countless times that he enjoyed the physical aspect in the English game, loved the commitment in this country but did not agree with over the top physical force to stop his team from playing. This was seen as moaning, usually with some reference of being French or foreign. So when we played Stoke in season 2009/10 it was little surprise that one of the Arsenal players suffered a leg break. Is it purely a coincidence that leg breaks occurred against Alex McLeish and Tony Pulis teams? Yeah right.

Anyway fast forward a few years and the poor Stoke supporters are very angry and upset that Ramsey didn’t like having his leg broken by an out of control idiot. How very dare he? After being subjected to abuse from the Stoke fans ever since that day he put his finger to his lips when he scored against them this season this has upset a very sensitive support who can dish it out but cannot take a fraction of it back. A tiny, tiny fraction I may add. They want to sing anti Ramsey songs today without taking into consideration that he will not be in the squad today. Probably not even at the ground so good luck with that.

I actually didn’t want to talk about all that as I haven’t read the Stoke message boards. I imagine it is a little like watching someone eating their own poo. Not really worth turning your stomach for. The truth is, for Arsenal this match means so much more than petty opposition supporters. We are in the middle of a title challenge with a run of very difficult games coming up so all our focus needs to be on picking up three points.

Ironically the Stoke City fans who booed our passing game and championed the hoof ball have had to watch their team reinvent themselves into a team who play a passing game like erm.. Arsenal.

Mark Hughes who incidentally is another manager who has sent his teams out to hurt Arsenal players (especially at Blackburn) in the past has negotiated his team to 15th position in the table as we speak. Since conceding 5 to Liverpool on Jan 12th they have tightened up considerably defensively. They have beaten Manchester United at home and lost to both Chelsea and Manchester City away by only one goal. They have also drawn away to Southampton during this time so it looks like it will be a very difficult game today as results do not match their league position.

I’m sure you already know the Arsenal injury queries. We are waiting on the result of the left back challenge. Gibbs, Monreal and then Vermaelen all put in a hat and wait to see which one is pulled out. I suspect that one of our regular left backs will be available. I don’t know why but I kinda have a bad feeling about Monreal being involved in this one. Nothing at all tactical or scientific to that by the way. I just hope

Mesut Özil will return to the squad and I’d imagine back in the team. Who makes away for him after a superb performance against Sunderland is anyone”s guess. Given Arsène’s tendency to use Rosicky sparingly I wonder if the Czech maestro will be the one. I hope not, I’d love to see both Rosicky and Özil on the same pitch at the same time. If that was to happen then I imagine that Cazorla would be the one to make way.

I wonder if Chamberlain’s strengths make him a starter these days? Usually he would take a back seat to experience but his pace and direct running gives us something different to the rest.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up:

All the rest is nothing but a side show, a distasteful show for sure but nothing more. It is all about the result and we have to do all we can to win this game. I hope we see us start the game in the same fashion as we have the last two games. Closing down early and high up the pitch. Let’s force Stoke into errors and capitalise early on those mistakes.

However it’s done, three points is a must.