The Gunners are going strong towards the top of the Premier League but any slip up will be pounced upon by the discreetly dangerous Potters.
Paul Merson has told Sky Sports that Arsenal must carefully manage their home fixture against Stoke City at the weekend due to the visitors’ pace on the counter – and has earmarked Xherdan Shaqiri and Marko Arnautovic as the main dangers.
The Gunners may have struggled notoriously on their travels against The Potters but it is a different story entirely at the Emirates, with Arsenal victorious in each of the eight Premier League meetings between the two sides on home turf with an aggregate score of 19-3.
And Arsene Wenger’s team could hardly be in a more confident mood right now after scoring nine times in their last two games, including hat-tricks by Alexis Sanchez and Lucas Perez against West Ham and Basel respectively.
However, Merson believes Arsenal cannot afford to be complacent against Mark Hughes’ Stoke due to the directness and the speed with which the visitors can execute their counter attacks, especially with the skill and vision of Arnautovic and Shaqiri in the final third.
“Stoke will cause problems at the Emirates because they have the right players in the right creative areas,” Merson wrote in his weekly predications for Sky Sports.
“You look at Arsenal’s recent home games – Middlesbrough and Bournemouth were a little unlucky – and Stoke have a better team than either of those two.
“If the Gunners get into an end-to-end battle, Stoke will enjoy that, especially the likes of Marko Arnautovic and Xherdan Shaqiri.”
The former Arsenal playmaker eventually tipped his old side to prevail with a narrow 2-1 win, their prospects undoubtedly helped by the sublime form of Sanchez in recent weeks.
However, though they have been dogged by inconsistency throughout the season, Hughes’ Stoke have history when it comes to bloodying the noses of the big boys – if not at The Emirates.
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