The Gunners have made a slow start to the season with only one Arsenal player managing a goal so far in the league this season. The Arsenal attackers have been largely wasteful in front of the goal and despite the fact that they have registered 40 shots, Olivier Giroud is the only Arsenal player who has managed to find the back of the net. This implies that Arsenal currently have the worst conversion rate among all the Premier League teams which stands at 5%.
Arsenal have surprisingly struggled at home this season and this is something Stoke manager Mark Hughes will be looking to take advantage of.
"They have struggled at home, surprisingly, and maybe on the back of an international break, going there this weekend could be a good time to go,” Hughes said.
The former Man City boss has a host of talented players to his expense with Swiss international Xherdan Shaqiri his latest high profile recruit. Hughes is thus confident that Stoke can give Arsenal a run for their money in the coming match.
"We feel we are better equipped to deal with Arsenal on the road now. We have players who can cause them problems."
Bojan, who proved to be a major coup for Stoke put forth a star performance when the two sides met at the Britannia last season. He was a constant threat and caused a lot of menace in the attacking third as Stoke picked a deserved 3-2 victory. The Spaniard however suffered a season ending injury after that but Hughes is hopeful he can have an impact in the match against Arsenal as the former Barcelona star looks forward to his first start of the season.
"Bojan flourished with game time last season, and maybe he will need that time again,” he added. “Hopefully he comes back flying.”
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger also spoke of the talent in the Stoke squad but is hopeful his side can translate their away form in home games as well.
"They are team with a good culture of the Premier League, they know how to behave and they have experience. They have been here a long time in the Premier League and they have improved their technical quality."
"They have Afellay, Bojan, Shaqiri, [Mame Biram] Diouf up front and Charlie Adam in midfield. They have a lot of technical players that can give you problems.
"What we want is to focus on our own performance as we want to take off at home now. We had two good away games with positive results in difficult places and we know at home we can be efficient against anybody."
Important stats
- Arsenal have emerged victorious in all of their last seven home league encounters against Stoke.
- Stoke are winless in their last seven Premier League away games.
Team sheets for Arsenal vs Stoke City
Arsenal's lineup: Cech, Bellerin, Gabriel, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Cazorla, Ramsey, Özil, Alexis, Walcott.
Stoke's lineup: Butland; Bardsley, Cameron, Muniesa, Pieters; Whelan , van Ginkel; Diouf, Shaqiri, Arnautovic; Joselu.
Arsenal's subs:Ospina, Debuchy, Gibbs, Arteta, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Campbell, Giroud.
Stoke's subs:Given, Wollscheid, Wilson, Ireland, Sidwell, Bojan, Crouch.
Match details, result and original broadcast info
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