A disciplined Arsenal side, marshalled by Johan Djourou, eased to victory last night against a Stoke team intent on exposing our vulnerability from set pieces. It was an understandable tactic as over half of the goals that we have conceded this season have been from set pieces, the highest percentage in the division, but Djourou attacked every ball and ensured we quickly resisted any pressure Stoke attempted to build from Rory Delaps tortuously long throw ins.

We did also give a brief example of our attacking prowess at the start of the match which culminated in Squillaci’s goal in the 8^th minute. Walcott missed the most obvious opportunity when he struck the post after being sent clear by Fabregas in the first minute but we had to wait for a set piece of our own before we could break the deadlock. A long corner was sent back into the mixer by Bendtner and Squillaci stooped to head home his first goal for the club. The experienced Frenchman had been threatening to become the latest scapegoat amongst our own supporters, following in the footsteps of Silvestre, but he actually looked very solid against Stoke’s lumbering attacks as he could not be exposed by quick movement.

After the captain went off with a hamstring strain in the 12^th minute we lost any fluency and the rest of the match passed in a disjointed manner which was only briefly brought to light by exchanges between supporters who were determined to never forget Shawcross’ career threatening challenge on Ramsey which occurred almost exactly a year ago. Ramsey is due to return from loan at Cardiff this weekend and given Fabregas’ possible absence, his timing could not be better.

There was further bad news later in the match when Theo Walcott’s ankle caught in the turf after he tangled with Whitehead. It was an innocuous challenge but it deserved a free kick which the referee bizarrely declined to award. Apparently there is no ligament damage but Theo will at least miss the cup final on Sunday, a fate his captain is desperate to avoid.

Photo: Action Images

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