Arsenal v Stoke City: Can Gunners shoot down Stoke?
Arsenal fluffed their big chance to cut the gap on fourth-placed Tottenham on Wednesday night as they fought back to grab a share of the points at home to Liverpool. Fortunately their north London rivals could only manage a draw with Norwich City, but can the Gunners pick up all three points this afternoon against their old foes Stoke City?
If we're going on current form then Arsenal will almost definitely win. The Potters have won only one of their past nine league outings and are still waiting to record only their second away win of the campaign. Meanwhile Arsenal have only lost to Man United, Swansea, Man City and Chelsea since the turn of November.
There's not a lot of love loss between Arsenal and Stoke. The two sides are polar opposites. Arsenal like to win with style, whereas Stoke just want to win.
Arsenal, along with leaders Manchester United, have scored the most goals at home in the Premier League this season (32) while Stoke have scored only eight on their travels. The Potters have also never been great travellers to Arsenal. Their last win came in 1981.
The Gunners won this fixture last year 3-1. Even Gervinho scored!
Everything points to a home win, but you can never write off the Potters.
Arsenal v Stoke City; Kick Off 3pm February 2 2013
Prediction Panel
|
Arsenal |
Josh Ben Moshe |
2 |
V |
1 |
|
Aston Villa |
Frank Pattison |
2 |
V |
1 |
|
Chelsea |
Apoorva Ankur |
1 |
V |
2 |
|
Everton |
Chris Goodwin |
3 |
V |
1 |
|
Fulham |
Neil Springate |
2 |
V |
0 |
|
Liverpool |
Dave Disciascio |
0 |
V |
0 |
|
Man City |
Callum Rothwell |
3 |
V |
0 |
|
Man United |
Alex Richert |
TBA |
V |
TBA |
|
Newcastle |
Greg Hall |
2 |
V |
1 |
|
Norwich |
Sue Read |
3 |
V |
1 |
|
QPR |
John Jaycock |
2 |
V |
0 |
|
Reading |
Jon Keen |
2 |
V |
2 |
|
Southampton |
Andy Saunders |
1 |
V |
1 |
|
Stoke City |
Peter Holland |
1 |
V |
2 |
|
Sunderland |
Tony Ratton |
2 |
V |
1 |
|
Swansea |
Jim Barry |
5 |
V |
1 |
|
Spurs |
Adam Crawford |
TBA |
V |
TBA |
|
West Brom |
Andy Wakeman |
2 |
V |
0 |
|
West Ham |
Matt Beeby |
1 |
V |
0 |
|
Wigan |
Jimmy Shine |
2 |
V |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
OUR EXPERTS |
|
|
|
|
|
Writer |
Colin Illingworth |
3 |
V |
1 |
|
Writer |
Steve Coulter |
3 |
V |
1 |
|
Writer |
Hugh Larkin |
0 |
V |
0 |
|
Writer |
Mitch Waddon |
2 |
V |
0 |
|
Writer |
Chris Pettitt |
2 |
V |
1 |
|
Writer |
Sarshar Hosseinnia |
2 |
V |
0 |
|
Blackburn fan |
Terry Kennedy |
2 |
V |
0 |
|
Bolton fan |
David Blackburn |
3 |
V |
0 |
|
Boro fan |
Sue Gardener |
0 |
V |
0 |
|
Pompey fan |
Dan Taylor |
1 |
V |
1 |
|
Pompey fan |
Peter Rendle |
2 |
V |
0 |
|
West Ham fan |
Nigel Telfer |
2 |
V |
0 |
|
Wolves fan |
Chris Cox |
2 |
V |
0 |
|
Editor |
Antony Melvin |
2 |
V |
1 |
Panel Verdict
Home win.
Home: 24; Draw: 6; Away: 2. TBA 2.
* Do we have it right or do you know better? We’d love to hear from you.
