Arsenal will look to put pressure on Liverpool for their place in the top four as the Gunners visit Bet365 Stadium to play Stoke City this Saturday. A win here and Arsenal will close the gap to one point ahead of Liverpool’s tricky West Ham United trip.
Team News
Stoke City- Stoke City will be hosting Arsenal with a near fully-fit squad in the late Saturday kick-off. With striker Jonathan Walters and Saido Berahino returning from injuries, Stoke’s attack will be fearsome as they already have the likes of Peter Crouch and Mame Diouf in contention. We expect Walters to start though.
Hughes has no new injury concerns. The long-term injury list remains the same with Stephen Ireland and Ibrahim Afellay pretty much out for the season with a broken leg and knee injury respectively.
Arsenal- Arsene Wenger, on the other hand, will have a lot to think about as Arsenal struggle with a familiar injury filled squad. The biggest loss will be of wing-back Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain. The vibrant English player was subbed off early against Southampton with a slight hamstring. Though the manager dismissed it with a slight pull, he is expected to miss the next two games.
Hector Bellerin took his position well last game and we expect the player to continue his form. Apart from him, Arsenal have Laurent Koscielny returning to the squad although his starting the game is doubtful. However, we can see a change in the squad following the little rest Arsenal have got going into this game. Granit Xhaka could be rested with Francis Coquelin taking his place. Same could be expected of Danny Welbeck with last game’s scorer, Olivier Giroud taking his role.
Predicted line-ups
Stoke City- Butland; Johnson, Shawcross, Martins Indi, Muniesa; Cameron, Whelan; Shaqiri, Allen, Arnautovic; Walters
Arsenal- Cech; Holding, Mustafi, Monreal; Bellerin, Coquelin, Ramsey, Gibbs; Ozil, Sanchez; Giroud
Key Players
Stoke City- Peter Crouch has fond memories of scoring against Arsenal previously, making the North-London club one of his favourite opponents in the league. He could really stand tall on days like this. Apart from him winger Marko Arnautovic and Xherdan Shaqiri could be big threats to the Arsenal side.
Arsenal- Arsenal will have away games specialist Alexis Sanchez up in the attack. The Chilean scored an absolute peach of a goal last game against Southampton and with just one more away game to play, Wenger would expect his best man to get the job done. Giroud could be a dangerous player for Stoke too, from set-pieces and crosses.
Betting Odds
Stoke City @ 15/4
Draw @ 31/10
Arsenal @ 3/4
