A mixture of the goal as well as Cesc being off the pitch meant that we yanked up the handbrake and just kept the ball. We totally eased off the pressure and turned it into a training exercise. We slowed the game down too much to score anymore goals. Stoke were absolutely shameful

Apologies for the late post, I found myself slouched at my desk, face on keyboard with an offline stream in front of me. I don’t know what happened. The last thing I remember is Ryan Shawcross playing a back pass to his goalkeeper followed with a hoof forward to the head of John Carew.

I kid of course but had I watched Stoke against perhaps Birmingham City then my tongue in cheek opening paragraph could have turned into reality.

It is somewhat a little late for in depth match analysis, not that I class my ramblings as any sort of analysis but you know what I mean. I will however give my two pennies worth to last night’s very important victory over the new enemy.

I missed all the fun stuff in the first 5-10 minutes or so. After rushing the kids to bed and finding a good quality stream, the first thing I saw was a clip of Cesc walking around and then a glance to the bench to see Wenger’s face, then back again to Cesc. The commentary was in Russian so I had no idea what was going on but the actions of the camera was worrying me greatly.

As soon as I saw Arshavin removing his tracksuit bottoms I dropped my head into my hands.

Weeks and weeks have passed us by and we have kept our key players fit and healthy. I am not at all surprised that we have remained unbeaten in the league since our 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford in mid December. You can only play at your best consistently when you have your best players available consistently. It appears that the squad are feeling the affects of the crowded fixture list as Koscielny and Van Persie were ruled out before the match and now Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott are on the treatment table.

It looks likely that the latter pair will miss the cup final at Wembley and that is a massive shame for both players. The statistics say that Cesc creates chances more frequently than any other play maker in Europe at present so obviously the team will miss him both for his technical attributes and his leadership qualities.

I think the team will cope with Theo Walcott’s absence easier following the return to form of Andrey Arshavin.

Back to the match, Bendtner’s control and set up for Squillaci was spot on, giving the Dane his second assist in three days. Squillaci played very well and let us not forget to credit him for his performance. There were many nervy Gooners before the game because of the inclusion of Squillaci but he did very well defensively throughout the game. He has always been pretty decent in the air and we know that Stoke are not going to cause many problems playing quick football on the floor so in hindsight we were always going to be relatively safe with the Djourou/Squillaci partnership. A partnership that is yet to taste defeat which is impressive stuff.

A mixture of the goal as well as Cesc being off the pitch meant that we yanked up the handbrake and just kept the ball. We totally eased off the pressure and turned it into a training exercise. We slowed the game down too much to score anymore goals. Stoke were absolutely shameful, they offered nothing whatsoever.

I don’t buy the playing to their strengths, do not have the players to play like Arsenal myth.

Blackpool and Ian Holloway are the perfect example of a team with hardly any resources who have done very well by playing attacking and creative football.

Stone age Pulis has built a side who throw and kick as high as possible to big neanderthals to head the ball. How the season ticket holders at the Britannia stadium actually managed to get through 90 minutes let alone the whole season is beyond me.

I have to say, I absolutely love the fact that we beat them on a set piece. We are supposed to be this frail collection of foreigners who cannot deal with the up and under in your faces style of Premier league football. Well we dealt with the kitchen sink and there marking was non existent when Squillaci nodded in from close range.

Stoke City managed to increase the amount of throws and long punts into our box during the second half but Sagna, Squillaci and Djourou were all fantastic and won pretty much everything that went into our penalty area.

I was feeling rather nervous at the end I must say. They didn’t create very much but it was the thought of Stoke, Shawcross and company snatching a late draw that was making me feel somewhat unwell. We held on in the end and we move to one point behind Manchester United and they have some rather tricky games to manoeuvre through in the next few weeks.

Now it is time to focus on bringing some silverware home on Sunday evening.

Szczesny (7.5)
Sagna (8)
Djourou (8)
Squillaci (8)
Clichy (7)
Song (6.5)
Wilshere (6.5)
Cesc (6)
Walcott (6)
Bendtner (7)
Nasri (6.5)

Please note that ratings are only my interpretations of the game and that others will have differing opinions