Arsenal’s
Premier League title ambitions were dealt a huge blow on Saturday, as they
slumped to a 1-0 defeat at Stoke City that leaves them four points adrift of
leaders Chelsea.
Jonathan Walters’
penalty with 15 minutes remaining was ultimately the difference at the
Britannia Stadium; the Ireland international made no mistake after Laurent
Koscielny had been adjudged to have handled the ball in the box.
Having struggled for fluency for much of the game, Gunners boss
Arsene Wenger threw on a number of substitutes in a bid to avoid defeat, but
the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Yaya Sanogo were unable to succeed
where Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla had failed before them.
Mesut
Ozil, initially named only on the substitutes’ bench, was also unable to
produce anything in 25 minutes on the pitch—as Stoke held on for a famous
victory.
Coupled with Chelsea's 3-1 victory over Fulham
and suddenly Arsenal's hopes of finishing the season top of the pack look all
the more distant.
Afterwards, Wenger told reporters (per ESPN):
“To win a
title—when you're expected to perform, you have to perform. It's as simple as
that.
It is not a slight
worry, it is a massive setback. We didn't create enough and they defended very
well. Our performance today wasn't good enough.
We are unlucky to lose
this game, but our offensive game was poor”
The Britannia Stadium has often
been a difficult place for Arsenal to go and so it proved once again, with the
away side—and Giroud in particular—subject to a number of tough challenges
throughout the opening 45 minutes.
That is not to say Stoke were playing in an
agricultural fashion, however, as they actually outpassed Arsenal in a first
half that was low on moments of genuine quality, with Cazorla perhaps the most
likely to make something happen.
Arsenal fans might have expected their side to
come out for the second half with a renewed purpose, but instead it was Stoke
who produced the better chances—with Peter Crouch often the man firing them.
It was the ex-England
international’s aerial presence that was causing Arsenal’s defensive problems,
with headers from a Charlie Adam free-kick and Marko Arnautovic cross both
forcing Wojciech Szczesny into action.
The Pole turned the second of
those headers out for a corner and the subsequent delivery was also aimed at
Crouch, but Geoff Cameron rifled his first-time volley wide after pouncing on
his team-mate’s knockdown.
While those chances were
hardly clear-cut they were nevertheless an indication that Stoke were gaining
the upper hand in the contest and eventually they were rewarded.
Walters tried to go past
Koscielny and the defender's hand clearly touched the ball—although whether it
was deliberate, as the rules demand, was harder to be sure of. Nevertheless the
referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.
Walters took on the responsibility
himself and duly side-footed past Szczesny.
"It was a nice gift
from the referee," Wenger fumed afterwards. "Koscielny is one yard
away. He has no time. How can he take his hand away? He has no chance.
"It was a generous
penalty. I can show you 10 videos of that situation when a penalty isn't
given."
Behind with 15 minutes remaining, Wenger threw Oxlade-Chamberlain and
Sanogo into the fray as he rolled the dice in search of an equaliser. But, bar
a couple of slight openings for Ozil and Giroud, he saw his side frustrated by
some resolute defending
No comments:
Post a Comment