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Arsenal Dominate Stoke City Behind Alexis’s Brilliance
By Josh Sippie
Arsenal faced off against Stoke City in need of three points to keep pace with Manchester United who lost to Southampton. They got it in rather convincing fashion, taking the match 3-0 behind a beautifully orchestrated performance by Alexis Sanchez.
The magic started early on in the 6th minute. Laurent Kocielny played a ball back out to Alexis and peeled off into the middle of the box and found himself completely unmarked as the perfectly placed ball by Alexis swerved in and was put away by the head of Kocielny.
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It was all Arsenal throughout, as David Ospina found his Premier League debut a little easier than he would have expected.
One goal would be all they needed, but not all they’d get, as in the 33rd minute, Alexis came bolting into the box and fooled the world by squeezing the ball into the inside post when Begovic (who actually had a great game) expected it to go wide. The score was now 2-0, although Arsenal could very well have been ahead by much more.
Just out of half time, Alexis lined up from his favorite free kick location and forced the ball under the wall and just off the hands of Begovic, who begrudgingly surrendered a third goal.
Despite the magic of Santi Cazorla and a wide open miss by Theo Walcott, Arsenal remained at three goals for the duration of the game and came away with a dominant win and a great one to potentially build off going into a crucial match against Manchester City.
Mesut Ozil and Walcott both returned and Ozil looked superb, playing some brilliant balls and firing off a shot as well. One has to imagine that Aaron Ramsey would have come on as well if not for an injury to Mathieu Debuchy.
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