Foxriver11: Arsenal welcomes Stoke a la Rambo style

Foxriver11: All eyes were set on the Manchester derby taking place later in  the evening but at Islington a few hours before masses gathered to welcome a Stoke side unlike many that Pulis used to show us was gonna be entertained by gooners who wanted a bitter sweet revenge for the in-form Ramsey.

Yes, the same Aaron Ramsey who was booed off the pitch when Shawcross horribly tried to end a career of a budding talent. But years passed on to that incident and Aaron rose again like a phoenix rising from the flames giving his all for a team that were trying to find a balance, a foothold for a position that was always doubted of their worth by the English media. His mental strength was the thing that Arsene Wenger grew so fond of speaking to the press about his team overall on a regular basis. So when the season where he actually began to show his potential on the pitch started, gooners all over began to anticipate the horrors that would hold for the Welsh captain when he faced the team that almost ruined him.

Another much speculated player so far has been the arrival of Mesut Ozil, many have compared his signing to the Ice Man one of Wenger's classiest signings ever. I had failed to grasp the intensity of what this meant, but now reading the similarities in their signing and class, I am beginning to understand the similarities these players have. Besides being World class players, both came at a time where Arsenal actually were pretty balanced in the attacking midfield department, but were in deep crap at both their strikers and defensive positions but the influence that world class players have on a pretty average team can be phenomenal to say the least.

Arsenal forced to make a very late change to the side that beat Marseille mid week Walcott replaced by young German Gnabry on the right hand side because of an abdominal muscle problem to the English forward. It wasn't long since Arsenal found their rhythm in the half before Wilshere was fouled by Charlie Adam disrupting the flow of the game, but what was surprising was the way Arsenal nicked the 1st goal of the game. SET PLAY against stoke, Ozil whipped in an attempt on goal which was parried on to Ramsey who seems can't make any mistake now, 1-0 to the gunners. The Emirates crowd exploded with promise of more to come. Steven Nzonzi then eluded BFG to send a shot towards SZCZ. Cameron was the quickest to react and stoke equalized 1-1.

Arsenal stepped up to the pressure after the goal and were rewarded soon after a Ozil corner led to a Goal by Per Mertesacker’s looping header, second time lucky for the BFG who had a similar effort saved moments before 2-1 to the gunners. In the second half, Stoke dictated the tempo for most of the match, but Gnabry who was rising in stature in the half tried an audacious long ranger at Begovic, who had saved the effort comfortably, remained untroubled for the first 20 mins. Thankfully the gunners scored again against the run of play from another set piece. Set piece against stoke, this never fails to rub the smile off my face. Anyways it was Wilshere being fouled for the 9^th time in the match that led to the free kick which was taken by Ozil who had a looped ball for Bacary in the box who made no mistake and looped it over Begovic, 3-1.

Gibbs and Flamini just grew into the game and controlled the Stoke moves before it turned to serious threats, clever interceptions and Koscielny controlling the long balls completely negated the Stoke threat. Miyaichi, Monreal and Arteta got a run in before the clock ticked down, Arsenal fans were high and running, singing we are top of the league as the whistle blew. Its true not many games have been played to celebrate in that manner, but considering our previous starts to the seasons we deserve all the cheer and spirit we get from the fans.