Stoke City v. Arsenal 3-1 24/Jan/10

Ricardo Fuller at the double.
[Photo: Getty Images via Telegraph]


Today at the Britannia stadium, Arsene Wenger's priorities came into light as his team was outclassed by the Potters in a three-goal salvo today. The fourth round of the FA Cup saw the halt of a successful run of wins with Manchester and Liverpool both also exiting at early stages. Certainly this defeat will not lift a major burden as the next four matches are symbolical and crucial to the contention of the Premier League: Villa away, Manchester, Liverpool and Chelsea at home to later finish in the Champions League quarterfinal against Porto, all in a limited span of twenty-one days.
Campbell's return was ludicrous since the centre-backs - and particularly the wretched Mikaël Sylvestre - were the starting couple. Team selection has been widely criticised and probably the main culprit of the failure at this stage. All we can think about of youngsters of the likes as JET, Coquelin and the impressive Eastmond is that their growth has been advantaged, yet not to the extent of an FA Cup challenge.



Gunner comeback Campbell did not have his best game.
[Photo: Alan Walter via Daily Mail]


Any team that battles with Stoke is advised to take proper care against Rory Delap's throw-ins. Instead of that, Arsenal again fell into one of the Irish "crosses": in the second minute of the game Fuller took precious advantage of gaining the back of Eastmond to head past a childish Fabianski who waited in the line for the ball. With this rookie mistake, the "blue" Gunners battled a difficult fight against the negative outcome of Delap's deliveries.
If there was certain grip of the situation in the previous matches in which the visitors were outnumbered in the score sheet, this time that feeling was completely vanished due to the fact that the only attacking option that seemed to work was Carlos Vela. The poor performance of the midfield with the terrible defending that Sylvestre poised ensured the Potters a wealthy advantage in possession.
It was not until the 34th minute that a real threat shook Sorensen's goal. Despite the peak, the Gunners managed to grab a late equaliser by Denilson: a freekick taken by Cesc saw the Brazilian score after a series of deviations to put the visitors all square, just before the break.




Fabianski misses Whitehead final blow
[Photo: PA via Daily Mail]


Matters only appeared to improve for the Gunners when a long range shot from Fábregas nearly caught off guard the Stoke keeper. Vela proved luck by improving his presence in the box. Even with three substitution well past the hour of gameplay, Wenger's men proved to be nothing more than mediocre and dismal team in many of their attempts. Instead of assuring chances in corners or at least some quick passing the London defence let Fuller take another hint at goal, this time from a cross.
Sylvestre stand still as the Potters assured their lead for second time in the match. Then on, everything went wrong for the Londoners as another goal came into the goal of the nervous Fabianski. In the last minutes the performance dropped from horrid to dismal. The poor goalkeeping along with the terrible defending and the non-existent offensive threat helped the Potters to go through the next phase.