Arsenal played a 0-0 draw against Stoke at the Britannia, and have now stretched the lead at the top to one point. However, was the result good enough for Arsenal, given their title ambitions this season, we take a look in our Stoke 0 Arsenal 0 Tactical Analysis feature.
Coming in to the game, Arsenal knew they only needed one point to reclaim their position at the top of Premier League. In the end, Gunners could only manage a draw against Stoke, and despite going top of the league, one gets a feeling Arsene Wenger will not be entirely satisfied.
Stoke 0 Arsenal 0 Tactical Analysis
Britannia stadium has not been a happy hunting ground for the Gunners. They have won only 1 out of their 14 (including today) games at this stadium. Even before the game had kicked-off, one could sense that Stoke will cause a lot of troubles for Arsenal, and they did.
Perhaps the game was evened out when team news came in with Mesut Ozil missing this game altogether due to a foot injury. Stoke must have thought with Bojan and Arnautovic in their ranks, they had equal chances of winning this game.
Arsenal started brighter of the two sides and Jack Butland produced two fine saves from Olivier Giroud to deny the Gunners their first half lead. Mind you, Stoke had forced Petr Cech into making couple decent saves as well.
Second half saw the home side play with more freedom and Arsenal goal keeper was busier of the two. Cech had to come up with 3 match defining saves, which tells us the kind of dominance Stoke were having.
Possession was still with Arsenal but the Potters were tucking away with chances. In the end, based on the chances created and saves made by Cech, I would say this was a good away point earned by the Gunners.
The point takes them 1 point clear of Leicester and Manchester City and perhaps with their stars (Ozil & Alexis) returning next week, we could see the final push from Arsenal towards their first title in 12 years.
Image credit: getty
