Arsenal vs Stoke City Report: Embarrassment to Heartbreak

Well, after predicting a 3-0 Arsenal victory and seeing a buffoonish goal surrendered 22 seconds into the game, I was feeling a bit nauseous. Couple that with the two goals that followed and the one disallowed goal and I was on the brink of full-on vomiting; not to mention Olivier Giroud’s missed header that could have leveled the game at 1-1.

But then I was reminded of what Arsenal could do when Alexis Sanchez maneuvered through the Stoke City defense and clanked one off the post.

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I can still hear the clunk sound it made.

That would-be goal would have made all the difference.

Arsenal showed beautifully in the last 40 minutes of the game. After Flamini drew a penalty that was slotted away by Santi Cazorla, Aaron Ramsey squared up a beautiful shot from a corner and brought Arsenal back to just one goal down with 30 minutes still to play. From there, it was chance after chance gone by the wayside.

There are so many bad’s to take from this game and only a couple of goods. Chelsea had just lost to Newcastle so to win here would have brought us that much closer to overtaking the Blues. Stoke City is not exactly a team that Arsenal should be losing to. Not only that, but here I was thinking Arsenal had turned the corner and they come out with this display.

The only goods to take from this are that we did make it a game and Aaron Ramsey is back on the scoring sheet. That should do wonders for his confidence.

Arsenal face Galatasaray on Tuesday, and while we don’t need the game, it would be an excellent opportunity to rebound, and restart our confidence yet again.

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