Friday, March 29, 2024

Match Report: Stoke 3-2 Arsenal

Arsenal’s miserable start to the season continued this afternoon as they lost 3-2 to bitter rivals Stoke at the Britannia stadium, finishing the game with 10 men.

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First half goals from Peter Crouch, Bojan Krkić and Jonathan Walters gave Stoke a 3-0 lead going in to the changing room at half time and proved to be too much for Arsenal to overcome.

The Gunners managed to claw back two goals in the second half, with Santi Cazorla scoring from the penalty spot and Aaron Ramsey smashing home a corner.

Crouch scored the opening goal after just 19 seconds, tapping in Steven N’Zonzi’s cross that caught the Arsenal defence completely out of shape. As an added bonus for Crouch, it means he has scored the fastest goal in the Premier League so far this season.

Olivier Giroud had a golden chance to level the game and make it 1-1, but the Frenchman’s header missed the target.

Arsenal were left to rue the missed chance not long after when Walters’ cross found Bojan, who made no mistakes in front of goal and gave Stoke a 2-0 lead.

Walters then capped off what had been a calamitous first half for Arsenal when he smashed the ball in to the roof of the net to give The Potters a 3-0 lead at the break.

Stoke almost went 4-0 up early in the 2nd half but their goal was controversially denied.

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A matter of seconds later, Mame Biram Diouf tripped Mathieu Flamini in the box and gave Arsenal a way back in to the game with Cazorla scoring from the spot.

Ramsey pulled a second goal back for Arsenal as he readied himself for a corner on the edge of the box and fired the ball past Asmir Begović and in to the net.

Arsenal continued to look for the equaliser that would rescue them from an embarrassing defeat, but their day went from bad to disasterous.

Referee, Anthony Taylor, shockingly decided to send Calum Chambers off for a second bookable offence, effectively ending any chance of a comeback.

The red card means that Arsenal, who are already struggling in defence, will be without Chambers for their home clash next weekend with Newcastle, who today ended Chelsea’s unbeaten run.

Five minutes of injury time were played after 90 minutes, giving Arsenal one last chance to push for an equaliser, but it wasn’t enough to save them from another wretched day in Stoke.

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