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International break saw a lot of Arsenal studs do their work and put in fantastic showings. Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey and Alexis Sanchez were among those that performed well for their places of birth. That means almost nothing when coming back into club play. Not very often has international success translated without bump or hiccup straight into club success. It would be nice if it did, though.
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Take last year for instance. Olivier Giroud was on a ridiculous streak. International break hit. Suddenly Giroud could not score to save his life despite a decent international showing.
It’s a different club, different team mates, a different manager and different tactics. Not the easiest switch up.
That being said, Stoke City is next. They have not had the greatest start based on points. Look at the individual results, though, and you see a different picture. Stoke opened with a 1-0 loss to a stingy Liverpool that has Champion’s League hopes. They followed that with a very impressive 2-2 draw against Tottenham.
An upstart Norwich shared a point with Stoke. Then came the Potter’s one real disappointment, a 1-0 loss to West Brom.
This is not a Stoke City side that can be seen as relegation bait and they are certainly no pushover. Arsenal have a history of problems against Stoke but duking it out at the Emirates is going to help.
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The only injury situation for Arsene Wenger to deal with is at center back. Laurent Koscielny may have to miss the contest after sitting out the French International clashes at the weekend. However, with Gabriel Paulista overly capable, the only worry becomes keeping the two remaining center backs healthy.
Aside from that, this is a healthy club that is ready to pop. They have been painfully stifled thus far into the season but it has to turn around at some point. Perhaps it will be against Stoke City.
Here is the best possible starting XI for Arsene Wenger to deploy against Stoke.
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