Barring a shock defeat against Bournemouth at home, Stoke City have remained largely unfazed in their last 9 games. They have fared well against tough opponents and sit comfortably in the 9th position. Bournemouth, however, are hot on their heels, waiting for them to falter.
Their good run may find a stumbling block when they visit Emirates this week to play Arsenal. The Gunners are currently second in the League after an emphatic win away at West Ham and will look to move top of the table on Saturday with a win over Stoke City.
Stoke City’s away record at the Emirates doesn’t show a good sign either. Arsenal have won each of their last 14 games against Stoke in all competitions and have even managed to keep 8 clean sheets in that run. The Gunners are also on a 13-game unbeaten run, which makes the task more difficult for Mark Hughes.
Stoke’s away record hasn’t been very bright either. They have managed to collect just one point from 7 away games this season so far. However, with the momentum behind them, Stoke City will be hoping to pull a positive result at Emirates.
Defence
Hughes is facing major injury crisis at the back. Their skipper Ryan Shawcross remains sidelined with a calf injury and the other first team enforcer Bruno Martins Indi suffered a bad facial injury against Burnley, where his cheekbone was broken. Against an Arsenal side who are scoring for fun, Hughes will have a tough time selecting players for the backline.
We expect him to give Dionatan Teixeira the nod to replace Martins Indi and start alongside Muniesa, who started in place of Shawcross against Burnley. Erik Pieters will take his place in the left-back position and Glen Johnson will perhaps start as the right-back. Johnson’s return from injury has given a much-needed defensive balance to the Stoke back four.
Midfield
Stoke are likely to field a defensive lineup against Arsenal and we expect Hughes to start with two deep lying midfielders in Gianelli Imbula and Charlie Adam in the pivot position. The playmaker’s role will be taken by Xherdan Shaqiri. Joe Allen started from the bench against Burnley and we expect him to start there against Arsenal.
Attack
Hughes has numerous options up front and he keeps rotating them. With a successful result against Burnley, we expect him to stick with Arnautovic and Diouf on the flanks.
Jonathan Walters has been a surprise candidate in the striker’s position despite having the likes of Wilfred Bony, Peter Crouch and Bojan Krkic on the bench. Crouch has scored eight against Arsenal in his career and Hughes might start with him.
