Arsenal make a long trip all the way to the Britannia as they look to extend their lead at the top of the table against the highly-flying Stoke City.
Mark Hughes has somewhat proven his critics wrong this season as the influx of attacking minded players in the summer, including Xhediran Shaqiri seems to be finally paying off for the Potters.
Stoke have started scoring a lot of goals as of late, thanks to their impressive attacking trio, and they’ve also been quite stable at the defence with the likes of Ryan Shawcross and Jack Butland keeping things covered at the back.
Wenger knows this one is going to be tough considering how well Stoke play in front of their home fans so it’s going to take something quite special for Arsenal to grab the win today.
Wenger seems to be unsure whether or not El Neney will make his first team debut against Stoke City following his recent signing with the club last Thursday.
Arsenal played out a thrilling 2-2 draw against Liverpool in their last Premier League outing but dropped a crucial 2 points in the process. They’ll be hoping they can make up for the lost points against the Potters considering how fast Leicester is catching up with them.
A victory for Stoke could see them move within a point of the top four if Tottenham fails to grab any points against Sunderland.
These are certainly exciting times for Stoke supporters as they edge closer to doing the unexpected – a top four finish.
Stoke will be looking to their illustrious front three to be the real difference today while Arsenal will be hoping that Mesut Ozil can muster up another match winning performance.
Team News:
Arsene Wenger is still unsure of Alexis Sánchez’s fitness but he may start in the game against Stoke as he’s apparently fully recovered from the Hamstring injury that saw him sit out the festive period.
New Signing El Neney is available to feature in the fixture but Wenger could opt to bench him considering how important this fixture might turn out to be in the long run.
Arsenal doesn’t have any major injury concerns going into this one so we can expect a replica of the side that drew 3-3 against Liverpool.
Stoke, on the other hand, will be without their key man Xhediran Shaqiri but they should hold out quite nicely without him considering the amount of depth in the squad.
Predicted Lineups:
Stoke City possible XI: Butland; Bardsley, Shawcross, Wollscheid, Pieters; Whelan, Afellay; Walters, Arnautovic, Bojan; Joselu
Arsenal possible XI: Cech; Bellerin, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Monreal; Flamini, Ramsey; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ozil, Walcott; Giroud
