Arsenal were held to a scoreless draw in a frustrating match against Stoke City. Petr Cech was the hero of the night, making several spectacular saves while the rest of his team failed to find an elusive winning goal.
Arsene Wenger switched Mesut Ozil with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, his hand forced by the German’s slight foot injury. Mohamed Elneny looked on from the bench, left to wait for his Arsenal debut.
Stoke away has become a challenging match for Arsenal in recent years, fuelled by the toxic Aaron Ramsey incident. The atmosphere, at times, was reminiscent of the pure hatred of a north London derby.
The first half was devoid of much quality, apart from one beautiful pass from Joel Campbell. He slid in an inch perfect to Giroud, who wasted a golden opportunity by striking straight into a grateful Jack Butland. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had a curling strike tipped over the bar by the Stoke ‘keeper but the Gunners never managed the final finish.
Arsenal started the second half brightly, earning an early corner that forced the Stoke ‘keeper into a terrific save to push a powerful Olivier Giroud header past his post.
Theo Walcott scuffed a promising counter-attack as Arsenal piled on the pressure early on in the second half, exemplifying his dip in form. With the crowd baying, space began to open up in the midfield but neither team had the clinical touch needed to score the opening goal.
The referee waved away two possible penalty calls, including a clear foul on Walcott that occurred slightly outside the box. The referee was positioned some distance away for both calls and appeared to have decided to shun the use of cards to punish fouls.
The game swung from end to end, as Arsenal and Stoke defenders flung themselves into last-ditch tackles. The tempo of the game rocketed and Cech delivered two fantastic saves to deny Joselu and Bojan in succession before Ryan Shawcross sent a free header wide.
The game continued to be one of misplaced passes and cheap possession. Alex Iwobi replaced Walcott in the 71st minute, who had another disappointingly ineffective performance. The Nigerian winger’s excellent ball retention and decision-making showed his more experienced teammates up.
Oxlade-Chamberlain is, unfortunately, becoming a figure of frustration for Arsenal fans as his dithering in midfield means promising attacks often ended with a Stoke player closing him down as he missed opportunities to release the ball.
The Gunners finally began to click with 15 minutes left but Stoke lived up to their strong defensive reputation and prevented Arsenal from any serious chances.
Wenger brought on Calum Chambers for Oxlade-Chamberlain with three minutes to go, and the defender’s only contribution was to give away a free-kick. The need for the return of Alexis and co. from injury is clear.
It was an exasperating night for Arsenal as they play three of the most challenging away league games on the trot. The north London side may remain top of the league but to really push on Wenger needs to find a much better midfield unit than the one on show today.
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