Stoke

No game thread yet?

I have no idea how we're going to lineup ( okay ,some idea involving AOC /Gervinho/Yossi on the wings, and Diaby/Song/Ramsey/Rosicky in midfield).
Get ready for a bunch of classless, offensive chants from the least classy, most neanderthal supporters in the league. Stoke City F.C. . The number of Ramsey leg-break "jokes" I have seen on other sites , is ....just whoah.
Somehow SCFC supporters still feel aggrieved that poor Ryan was put through such emotional trauma for being blamed for breaking Ramsey's (that bastard!) leg and not having his apology accepted by Aaron. Oh, the cruelty of it all.

My hope: Ramsey scores a brace and Shawcross' testicles spontaneously rupture in the 39 minute.

My prediction: A draw.
It would help to get a result here to insure 3rd place, because Newcastle, Spurs , Chelsea have a game in hand on us.

I think we need 3 points here. They are a team with nothing to play for (other than the fact that they hate us) and we are a team still with a large bit to play for.

Too much to risk Chelsea not winning the CL, as much as I hate to say it.

3 points is a must, but it will be tricky as there is zero love lost between the two clubs.

Adam Sisson wrote:
Too much to risk Chelsea not winning the CL, as much as I hate to say it.

3 points is a must, but it will be tricky as there is zero love lost between the two clubs.

Exactly this!
Szczesny
Sagna Koscielny Vermaelen Gibbs
Rosicky Song Diaby
The Ox RvP Benayoun

Benayoun should start. I agree with Vanig's post.

We need 2 wins out of the last 3 to confirm the 3rd spot. With Newcastle facing Chelsea and City soon, looks possible to me.

Our next matches after this is Norwich home and WBA away.

Hopefully RvP's awards give him some boost to score something like 5 goals in the next 3 games.

I don't think Wenger is gonna throw the Ox to these animals (although he is strong enough). maybe Santos at LB to use his body strength over those cunts and surely diaby in midfield.

1-3 to us

on Tomas Rosicky…
He is alright. He was sick last weekend. I think he pushed himself very hard to get on the pitch but he has recovered since and should be fit for the game.

on Abou Diaby….
He will not start. He was sick until yesterday and had a light session. He could be short again but he could be in the squad.

on Theo Walcott…
Theo is out for Saturday. He has a little chance to catch the last game but not the next two.

on Per Mertesacker…
He is doing well. He is hopeful he will make the Euros and I hope he does. He is doing all his work here and the next two weeks will be vital for him. He has started ball work and he looks quite good.

on other team news…
Basically the squad should be similar to what we have seen in the last game. But Yossi Benayoun should be back because he could not play in the last game against Chelsea.

Going to be a tough one. Allways nervous then we play Stoke away.
The problem is that Stoke play another sport than us, their play looks more like tennis, or volleyball.. (all about keeping it in the air, but bounces once ot twice a minute because they dont have the skills keeping it there).
For me, after spuds, stoke is the worst team in PL..
Hate Stoke, love Arsenal..

Up gunners!

Stoke 1-2 Arsenal

Chesney
Sagna Kos Verm Gibbs
Song Ramsey Rosicky
Ox RVP Benayoun

That's my predicted lineup. I think he will go for Ox - he's a physical character and won't get ruffled by some hard challenges. I think Diaby will be on the bench also.

I don't know the scoreline but I think that team is good enough to win, and I think that win we will.

Win this game and we will have one foot in next season's Champions League. But our record at Stoke is average (3 defeats in 4 games at the Britannia) and they despise us as much we do them. We're the better team and all, and they are not as good as last season, but they seem to find a way to raise their game for the big teams. Draw against Man Utd, Man City and Chelsea, wins against Spurs and Liverpool. But they're far from unbeatable at home, either.

Not that we necessarily need 9 points out of 9 to make sure, 6/7 should do it, but we can't really afford the pressure of heading into the last couple of games needing to win and hoping others slip up.

It's not guaranteed that Newcastle and Spurs will drop points, I mean, they probably will, but I would rather we made sure of 3rd and the earlier the better. Plus, we don't want to keep giving others a sniff. Although I prefer us to play mid-table teams with nothing to play for at this stage of the season, we seem to find a way to make it hard for ourselves and both away games especially are potential slip ups.

I would start Gervinho and Benayoun alongside RVP.

I'd start them both as well, Ox didn't look sharp in the last game for me and I think Gervinho deserves a start as he hasn't had a look in recently really, must do more for me though.

Shame Diaby won't start, we need his physical strength against those cunts!

Maybe it would help, but Diaby has done nothing to deserve a start yet, our usual midfield should do just fine for me.

Yep a third agree to them starting....stoke will shut up shop against us no two ways about it...also agreed they are not the team as of yesterseason...
We need as much creative ability on the pitch as possible as finding a way past them will be no easy feet....

out of the games we have left this one worries me the most..

I would start AOC today, we need someone who can take on a defender alone, making Stoke unbalanced. Alex right, Gervinho left would generate speed Stoke will have trouble to defent trough 90 minutes.

Szczesny
Sagna Koscielny Vermaelen Santos
Song Ramsey
Rosicky
AOC RvP Gervinho

Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Song, Ramsey, Rosicky, Gervinho, Van Persie, Benayoun

Subs: Fabianski, Diaby, Santos, Chamakh, Squillaci, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Coquelin

Good team imo.

Stoke will be the same as usual. The result depends on us. Last year they didn't even have to do much to win - it was one of those games when we are so obviously not up for it that Sagna has a shocker.

Thats what I would have picked from the start, would be hoping Diaby can contribute second half to give us a more physical presence for half an hour maybe.

Is Diaby physical that much stronger than Ramsey? I think Ramsey is strong enough to hold on to the ball, but he just takes too much time thinking.

Physical presence...in the air?

Before we even talk about strength in the air we just need to be committed full stop. Last year had nothing to do with strength, we were just pathetic.

Contrary to the stereotype, Stoke are probably not going to bosh us left, right and centre. Just make the most of their physical advantage legally. (Though one of them might make a filthy challenge, not denying that.)

How many times have we seen Diaby challenge for a header? I can only remember two incidents, his goal against Liverpool and own goal against Manchester United. I like the guy and he has a great ball control and drive with the ball but he was not that good in the air.

Can't see us being anywhere near enough up for this one. Stoke love beating us even if it means nothing to them

espn showed vela instead of santos in subs

Anyone got any links please?