Stoke 3-2 Arsenal: Ten men lose

Stoke held on to beat Arsenal 3-2 after a dramatic afternoon
at the Britannia Stadium.
The Gunners are the team Stoke relish taking on more than
any other and the home fans were in dreamland after Peter
Crouch, with the fastest goal of the Premier League season,
Bojan Krkic and Jonathan Walters put them three up at
half-time.
But, after Bojan had a fourth ruled out for offside, Santi
Cazorla pulled one back from the penalty spot and two minutes
later Aaron Ramsey reduced the deficit further.
There were still 20 minutes to play but the sending off of
Calum Chambers for two yellow cards reduced the heat a
little and Arsenal could not find a third.
The result brought an end to Arsenal's run of three successive
wins and ended a losing sequence of three for the hosts.
The bad blood between these teams dates back to the challenge
made by Ryan Shawcross on Ramsey nearly five years ago
that broke the Arsenal player's leg.
Arsene Wenger was unhappy with pre-match comments from
Shawcross hyping up the rivalry and the Stoke captain's name
was greeted with loud boos from the visiting fans.
But they were silenced only 19 seconds into the match as
Steven Nzonzi got away down the right and sent over a cross
that Chambers failed to clear under pressure from Mame
Biram Diouf.
The ball ran to Crouch, making his first start in more than a
month - and he had the simple task of tapping it in after
goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez lost his balance and fell over.
Teenage defender Hector Bellerin was making only his second
Premier League start for Arsenal and his fine cross in the 11th
minute should have set up an equaliser but somehow Olivier
Giroud headed wide.
Bojan has grown into Stoke's main creative force and his
link-up play, in particular with Crouch, was causing Arsenal
real problems.
Stoke were relishing the lively atmosphere and tempo and
full-back Phil Bardsley got into the spirit with a fierce shot
that Martinez could only push uncomfortably away.
Fortunately for the Arsenal keeper, Chambers reacted quickly
to ensure Crouch could not take advantage of the rebound.
Arsenal looked sporadically dangerous and Asmir Begovic
may well have been struggling had Cazorla's 20-yard effort
been on target rather than just over the bar.
But largely the game was being controlled by Stoke and it
was no more than they and Bojan deserved in the 35th minute
when the Spaniard classily converted Walters' terrific cross.
The gleeful chant of "2-0 to the rugby team" rung around the
stadium, mocking a famous Wenger jibe about Stoke's style of
play under former manager Tony Pulis.
But even the Arsenal boss must have been impressed by the
fluidity of Stoke, who were simply outplaying his side.
Begovic had to be alert to preserve the lead in the 38th minute
when a Giroud header deflected off Shawcross, but just before
half-time Stoke added a third.
Bojan's corner was headed down by Crouch and an unmarked
Walters slammed the 100th club goal of his career high into the
net.
Unsurprisingly, Wenger shuffled things around for the second
half, sending on Danny Welbeck for Bellerin, with Mathieu
Flamini moving to right-back.
Welbeck was straight into the action, seeing a shot deflected
wide, but Stoke continued to pose plenty of problems.
Martinez was having an uncomfortable afternoon and he was
caught out by a Bojan free-kick in the 51st minute.
The keeper had to dive back towards his goal to keep it out
and was fortunate the ball arrived at Geoff Cameron's feet too
quickly for the defender to do anything with it.
At the other end, Alexis Sanchez almost made Nzonzi pay for
a poor error when he ran through on goal, beating Shawcross
and Begovic, but shot against the post.
It looked curtains for Arsenal when Bojan found the net for
the second time in the 65th minute - but a belated offside flag
cut short the celebrations.
The Gunners went down the other end and won a penalty
when Diouf tripped Flamini. Begovic got a hand to
Cazorla's shot but could not keep it out - and two minutes
later Ramsey reduced the deficit to a single goal.
Begovic produced a fine save from Welbeck but Sanchez's
corner picked out Ramsey at the back post and he shot through
a crowd of players.
Arsenal pushed hard for an equaliser but found themselves
reduced to 10 men 12 minutes from time when Chambers was
shown a second yellow card for pulling Bojan.
And, despite putting Stoke under a lot of pressure, the third
did not come.