THEO GETS IT RIGHT
Prof ligate Gunners do just enough as Walcott and Giroud lift Arsenal to third
HAVING publicly bemoaned the lack of strikers for sale in Europe, Arsene Wenger was relieved to find both his on target as Arsenal recorded their first home win of the campaign.
Wenger rarely fails in this fixture, making it 10 out of 10 at home to Stoke.
Theo Walcott gave Arsenal the lead, converting on the break in the first half, and Olivier Giroud wrapped up the points having come off the bench to replace Walcott.
That opening-day home defeat by West Ham, when Petr Cech’s new career started so dreadfully, suddenly seems an eternity away.
Arsenal have eased towards the top of the Barclays Premier League, six points clear of Chelsea, who they face next weekend, although they do remain criminally wasteful in front of goal.
‘If you want to be critical you can say too big a difference between the chances we created and the goals we scored but that can come quickly,’ said Wenger. ‘Technically, it was a strong performance. Our movement was great in the first half and we created plenty of chances.’
Arsenal, in fact, had 29 efforts at goal. At times it was a barrage of chances.
Walcott was the chief culprit when it came to squandering them, although Giroud came on and immediately produced the worst miss of the game.
Their frustrations were magnified by a fabulous display of shot-stopping by goalkeeper Jack Butland, without which it would have become embarrassing for Stoke.
Arsenal’s profligacy mattered little in the end.
Wenger’s defence kept their third successive clean sheet and Stoke, who slumped to the bottom of the table, winless in five games, barely offered a threat.
Alexis Sanchez hit the woodwork twice: the first a header tipped on to the post by Butland, before Walcott stabbed the rebound wide, the second a curler with his right foot after cutting into the penalty box.
Butland also beat out a free-kick from Sanchez and Walcott missed a sitter, heading over from six yards. All this, inside the first 10 minutes.
Mark Hughes had boldly gone with two up front, flanked by attacking wingers in a 4-4-2 formation, but his team were simply over-run.
Sanchez and Mesut Ozil tormented right-back Phil Bardsley until Hughes adjusted and moved striker Mame Biram Diouf out to the right wing.
Xherdan Shaqiri was a defensive liability on the right until he was redeployed in the No 10 position and Stoke stabilised after switching to a 4-2-3-1 formation.
On the other side of the pitch, Hector Bellerin proved as creative and dangerous as any of Arsenal’s wingers.
Laurent Koscielny tested Butland from 40 yards and the England U21 keeper produced another splendid reflex save to deny Santi Cazorla before he was finally beaten following a move of Route One simplicity from Arsenal.
Francis Coquelin won the ball deep in his own half from Joselu and it ran free to Ozil, who clipped a 40yard pass behind Stoke’s central defenders. Walcott dashed clear of Marc Muniesa, held the centre-half at bay, and squeezed the finish past Butland.
It was an 11th goal in the last 11 Premier League starts for Walcott, and vindicated Wenger’s decision to start him up front.
‘Walcott scores but if he does not, everybody says why did you not buy a striker?’ said the Arsenal boss. ‘If I bought a striker Walcott would not play.
‘I believe Theo can be a prolific goalscorer because he has chances. You come out of the game and think how many chances he had. The bigger the belief, the more he will score. It helps to have a run of games.
‘At the moment we play every three days for three weeks; I will have to rotate the strikers without letting them drop confidence.’
Stoke stirred after going behind. Joselu and Shaqiri forced saves from Cech and Marko Arnautovic angrily accused Gabriel Paulista of throwing an elbow in his face as the pair clashed on the run.
Referee Jon Moss took no action and Hughes chose not to make an issue of it.
Butland continued with his heroics but was beaten for a second time in the closing stages. Cazorla whipped in a free-kick to the near post and Giroud (below) headed in his second of the season.
It eased the nerves inside the Emirates Stadium. There was no way back for Stoke, who were left to search for consolation. ‘Jack has shown what an outstanding young keeper he is,’ said Hughes. ‘We knew what we had in the building when we let Asmir Begovic go. It was important to know we had trust in him. We gave him the No 1 shirt and he’s been outstanding. ‘We were also delighted to see Bojan back in the Premier League for the first time since his injury. On a day of negatives, those were the two highs.’