Gunners strolled to easy 3-0 victory at the Emirates.
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Arsenal recovered from their New Years Day hangover defeat at Southampton last week to dismantle Stoke City 3-0 at the Emirates.
As is so often the case this season, Alexis Sanchez was the star once again, netting twice and assisting the Gunners opened with a cross for defender Laurent Koscielny.
Here’s five things we learnt from the game:
5) No smoke without fire
Despite pre-match rumblings the Pole would keep his position, Wojciech Szczesny was replaced in the Arsenal starting XI by David Ospina.
Arsene Wenger tried to put an end to the press speculation of the Szczesny-smoking incident after the Southampton defeat by saying thae Arsenal no.1 had apologised and the issue had been put to bed.
However, his actions speak louder than his words ever could and Szczesny was dropped to the bench as Ospina made his Premier League debut and kept a clean sheet.
4) The Emirates is Stoke’s bogey ground
The Potters were smashed once again by the heavy guns of Arsenal.
In their seventh visit to North London, Stoke again came away with nothing and conceded their 15th, 16th and 17th goals at the Emirates in the process.
Mark Hughes side can hold their own against the Gunners at the Britannia it seems but in the reverse fixture look more like puppies than Premier League hard-men.
3) Arsenal injury curse strikes again
It’s beyond a joke now the number of injuries this Arsenal squad has suffered this season.
Despite already being out for three months following an injury against Man City in October, the Gunners right back Mathieu Debuchy looks set for another lengthy spell in the treatment room after being pushed off the ball in the air by Stoke midfielder Marko Arnautovic and dislocating his shoulder after a heavy landing.
2) Stoke City’s Twitter has a day as bad as their team
The Potters official Twitter account came out with some strange things today and seemed inspired by their teams on-pitch nightmare to have one of their own.
1) Alexis Sanchez proved priceless once again
Liverpool must be well and truly kicking themselves that they were unable to snatch the Chilean from Barcelona this summer and he instead went to the Gunners.
His contribution to todays proceedings was a wicked cross for the Arsenal opener and a fine solo effort just before the half time whistle to put his side 2-0 up. In the second half he managed to double his tally with a genius free kick under the wall that Begovic couldn’t claw away from his goal.
The only issue will be the number of minutes he has spent on the field this season, more than anyone else in the league, and surely an injury may come a cropper if he continues to be played for the full 90 minutes.