Arsenal Vs Stoke City: Two good; one bad from undeserved victory

Arsenal’s recent 3-0 over Stoke City gave viewers a glimpse of what worked and what didn’t. Here are two pros and a con of the 3-0 victory.

It was perhaps a scoreline that Arsenal didn’t exactly deserve. While they were in control of the game for large portions and never looked all that frazzled, they certainly weren’t three goals better than their visitors. Nevertheless, there some good and bad points to be taken from the win over Stoke City.

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So, here are some pros and cons.

Pros

If there’s a will, there’s a way…

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Last time we saw the quadruple of Alexandre Lacazette, Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, it was in a North London Derby where the expectation was not met. This game against Stoke showed us how they can, and perhaps should, work together.

The dynamic duo of Lacazette and Aubameyang troubled Stoke’s 4-4-2. Arsenal’s main game, where they shifted Aubameyang out wide to occupy the full back and/or a centre-half, played better to his pace, while Lacazette’s hold-up play allowed a more fluid attacking style that bettered both the ball retention and creative intention. Now, we have seen that they are not afraid to put the team first. A good display from the 60-plus-minute-mark.

The future?

Shkodran Mustafi and Calum Chambers lined up against a near-relegated Stoke, a team that embodies the “rugby over soccer” archetype, the antithesis of Arsenal’s footballing philosophy. However, the Gunners could do with learning a thing or two about strength, character, and a gritty sense of doing all that it takes to win from this embattled and hardened Stoke side.

This has definitely been the case with Mustafi and Chambers. The duo have been in a good patch of form in the Europa league especially, with strong performances against Milan. Chambers especially has been looking to supersede his role as an understudy to an ageing Laurent Koscielny to an increasingly likely starting one. Are they the future of the club’s defense?

Cons

“Atletico Madrid will win the Europa League”

It’s no secret that the club are going through a period of severe damage-control by prioritising the Europa League. But do Arsenal actually have what it takes to go on and win the Europa League?

There is no understating how bad that first half was. A dismal, stagnant showing, reminiscent of a classic Arsenal job, there is no doubt that if they were to perform like that against better teams, they would be punished.  The 3-0 scoreline does not reflect what actually happened in the game and the delicate tightrope that they are standing on.

This is a toss-of-the-coin team. If the one we saw in the first half plays against Atletico Madrid, we should brace ourselves for the worst. Unlike Stoke, Atletico will not let any stone be unturned. Every knock-out round that progresses in the Europa League should bring an opposition of greater quality and threat. Do they have, to quote Troy Deeney, the “cojones” to go all the way?

Next: Arsenal Vs Stoke City: Player ratings

It’s one hurdle at a time, but they need to perform a whole lot better than they did for the first 45 minute here to even give themselves any hope of winning the last-remaining trophy of the season.