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Stoke City vs Arsenal Preview: Classic Encounter, Team News, Key Battle & More

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Stoke City and Arsenal square off in the first Premier League game of 2017/18 played at the bet365 Stadium. Mark Hughes will be hoping his team can gain at the very least their first Premier League point of the season, whilst Arsene Wenger's will expect his side to build on an impressive performance vs Leicester City with a positive result against Stoke City.

Classic Encounter


Stoke City 1-3 Arsenal (27/04/2010)

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This fixture between the two sides will always be associated with the horrific injury a teenage Aaron Ramsey sustained following a tackle from Ryan Shawcross. The Stoke City defender departed the field in tears as he was sent off for the challenge, whilst Ramsey wouldn't play his next football match for nearly a year. 

Arsenal came from behind and scored two goals in injury time to win the match, but both managers didn't refer to the result in their post-match interviews - as the injury to Ramsey overshadowed the game. 

Key Battle


Ryan Shawcross vs Alexandre Lacazette

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Arsenal's club record signing Lacazette had a dream debut for the Gunners last week, opening the scoring in their 4-3 win over Leicester within 2 minutes. The Frenchman will be hoping to add to his tally this weekend against Stoke City.

Stoke captain Ryan Shawcross will be looking to keep Lacazette and the rest of Arsenal's attackers quiet, as his side go in search of their first clean sheet of the season. 

Shawcross will harbour hopes of gaining a place in Gareth Southgate's England squad for the upcoming World Cup and a strong performance against one of the best strikers in the Premier League would do his chances no harm. 

Team News

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For Stoke, Bruno Martins Indi may make his first appearance of the 2017/18 season following his permanent transfer from Porto. Whilst the Potters could hand new loan signing Jese his Premier League debut from the start or off the bench against Arsenal. 

Arsenal are still without suspended defender Laurent Koscielny as he serves the last game of his suspension, but Alexis Sanchez is back in full training and could make an appearance.

Prediction 

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Following Arsenal's impressive win against Leicester, the Gunners look set to build on that performance against a Stoke City side that lost their opening fixture against Everton.

Arsenal showed their fire power scoring four goals at the Emirates Stadium last week and it would be a surprise for Stoke City to pick up their first clean sheet of the season against the north London side. 

However, expect Arsenal to have too much firepower for Mark Hughes' side.

Stoke City 1-3 Arsenal

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