Greetings Gooners! Welcome to another Arsenal preview, ahead of our second game of the season.

Here’s the two most recent posts:

At 5:30pm (UK time) on Saturday, Arsenal will kick-off away to Stoke City.

The Managers

Arsenal

Wenger on our win at Stoke in May: “We were well organised, efficient and under pressure to win the game. We had a convincing win there and that should inspire us. Stoke have a good record at home against many teams and I’m convinced that if we play our game, we have a good chance of winning.”

On Costa/Alexis saga comparisons: “No, I don’t think Costa has one year to go. We want him [Alexis] to be with us, Chelsea does not [want Costa].”

On a busy end to the transfer window: “Getting players out keeps you as busy as getting players in. So I will be busy.”

Stoke City

Mark Hughes on new signing, Jese: “Everyone is excited to see him play. He is an elite player, a top-level player. I think we can give him a platform here to really enjoy himself.”

On his squad: “If you look at the players we let go, I would argue that we have only let go of one who would be a regular starter. The rest would be squad players, but we have replaced them with starters. If you compare and contrast with last season, I believe we are much stronger.”

On Arsenal: “They are a good side who always look like they can create and take chances. Last time we had a game-plan, an opportunity to really get at Arsenal. But we weren’t able to execute that plan for whatever reason.”

Team News

Arsenal

Per Mertesacker could be available again after missing the opener with Leicester. The skipper was absent due to a knock he picked up in the Community Shield victory. Wenger also said that Shkodran Mustafi and Francis Coquelin will be in the squad for Stoke.

Alexis Sanchez is still on his way back from an abdominal strain. According to Wenger, “his recovery is going well, he is working very hard but we have to be cautious. It was a muscular strain and it’s important not to have any setback on it.” Sanchez could be available for the next match against Liverpool.

Jack Wilshere is not far away from making his return to the Arsenal first team. The midfielder is likely to play for the u-23’s on Monday night but Wenger doesn’t anticipate Wilshere leaving Arsenal this summer. “I plan for him to be here for the season, after we will see.”

Stoke City

Stoke’s main injury concern is that of forward Julien Ngoy. He’ll be out for up to six weeks with a thigh injury. Steven Ireland and Ibrahim Affelay are long-term absentees.

The home side could hand home debuts to several new signings this weekend. Hughes said “we are hoping to involve all the ones we have brought if we can. Some will be on the bench, some will start.”

As well as Jese, Stoke have added the likes of Darren Fletcher, Eric Maxim Chuopo-Moting, Josh Tymon and Kurt Zouma to their squad this season. Dutch defender Bruno Martins Indi also made his move to Stoke a permanent one, having spent last season on loan.

Premier League Head-to-Head

P 18 W 11 D 3 L 4 F 34 A 16

18 11 3 4 34 16 Arsenal have a 100% record at home to Stoke in the Premier League. But alas, we are not at home this weekend…

Our away record doesn’t make for such good reading. The Gunners have won just twice in nine matches at Stoke.

The 4-1 win in May was our best ever result in the PL at Stoke. It also ended a six-match run without a win in Staffordshire.

The only other Arsenal win at Stoke in the Premier League came back in February 2010. The Gunners won it 3-1 but the game was marred by that horrific injury to Aaron Ramsey.

When Stoke were promoted to the PL in 2008, it was their first top-flight campaign in over 20 years. Arsenal lost 2-1 in their first trip to Stoke – with both Stoke goals coming from Rory Delap throw-ins!

Stoke have scored 12 PL goals at home against Arsenal, with half of them coming from just two players. Jon Walters and Peter Crouch have scored three each at home to the Gunners. Walters is no longer a threat though, following his move to Burnley. Crouch has actually scored more goals against Arsenal than any other team in his Premier League career.

They’re often feisty affairs when Arsenal travel up to Stoke. There have been three red cards in this fixture – two of them for Arsenal. Robin Van Persie (2008) and Calum Chambers (2014) were the two Gunners players to see red.

What happened last time?

Arsenal went on to win their final two games of the season (as well as the FA Cup) but couldn’t catch Liverpool in the race for the Top Four. Stoke finished the season in the bottom half of the table.

It was a great moment for Alexis Sanchez. His goal saw him reach 50 Premier League goals for Arsenal in 101 games – only Thierry Henry (83) and Ian Wright (87) have reached the milestone faster than Alexis.

The result also saw Arsenal score 4+ goals in five away League games last season. It was the most in a single season for Arsenal since 1936-37. Stoke joined West Ham, Swansea, Sunderland and Hull City in being routed by Arsenal on their own turf.

Bad Blood?

It’s no secret that these two sides just do not get along. When Stoke were promoted in 2008, their robust style of play was the polar opposite to everything Arsenal are about. They may not be neighbours, but this fixture is often as full-blooded as any local derby.

It goes right back to Arsenal’s first PL game at Stoke. Two Rory Delap throws were our undoing on a day that Sagna, Walcott and Adebayor all ended up with injuries. Robin Van Persie was sent off for a challenge on Stoke keeper Thomas Sorensen.

It was our next trip to Stoke where you find the defining moment of this rivalry. Ryan Shawcross’ challenge on Aaron Ramsey left the Welshman with a double leg break. It would be 10 months before he played again but Arsene Wenger once claimed it took Ramsey three years to recover from the mental and physical scars following the incident. Relations were frayed even further as Ramsey refused initial contact from Shawcross in the days after the game.

Some Stoke fans relish a game against Arsenal more than most. Ramsey is booed and subjected to chants of “He walks with a limp”. They’ve also taken to chants of “1-0 to the rugby team” and singing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (a traditional rugby union song most associated with the England national team) ever since Wenger’s comments about Stoke in 2010. “It’s more rugby on goalkeepers than football”, were the Frenchman’s words after a few rough challenges from Stoke players during a match against Spurs.

In 2013, Aaron Ramsey scored against Stoke at the Emirates and celebrated with a “shush” gesture in front of the away fans. Not too bad, right? I mean, it’s a fairly muted celebration considering the years of abuse he received from the Stoke supporters for having the audacity to break his leg against them. But the fans of the Potters didn’t see it that way and, in their fanzine, produced this leaflet. In it, they call Ramsey out for not celebrating in a “classy” way and for keeping “this pantomime going”.

Tony Pulis left Stoke in 2013 but that didn’t do much to cool the rivalry. His successor, Mark Hughes, has clashed with Wenger in the past. In a League Cup quarter-final in 2009, Hughes’ Man City team beat a youthful Arsenal side 3-0. During the game, Hughes entered Wenger’s technical area in an attempt to retrieve a ball that he felt hadn’t been returned quickly enough. After the match, Wenger refused to shake hands with his counterpart and went straight down the tunnel – prompting a sarcastic wave from Hughes. The Arsenal boss later said “I’m free to shake hands with whom I want after a game”, before adding with a little tongue-in-cheek, “perhaps I have no professional courtesy”.

After a 3-2 defeat at Stoke in December 2014, Arsene Wenger commented on the abuse he received from the home fans. Hughes showed little sympathy in his response: “Stick your fingers in your ears if you don’t want to hear it. As an experienced manager, it shouldn’t affect you too much anyway.”

An extra bit of spice potentially is the fact that Stoke’s new signing Jese could make his debut this weekend and go up against Sead Kolasinac – the man who’s challenge in a Champions League tie had a huge impact on Jese’s Real Madrid career. This tackle resulted in a complete ACL tear for Jese and forced him to spend nine months on the sideline. The Spaniard has admitted himself that the injury severely hampered his chances of reaching his potential with Madrid.

How about some goals?

So we may not have many good days at Stoke, but we have gotten some good goals…

2014-15 : Stoke 3-2 Arsenal: A Santi Cazorla penalty and a nice volley from Ramsey had threatened to get Arsenal back into this game. But the damage was done in the first half, with Stoke scoring in the first 20 seconds. Calum Chambers was sent off for a 2nd bookable offence with the game at 3-2.

: Stoke 3-2 Arsenal: A Santi Cazorla penalty and a nice volley from Ramsey had threatened to get Arsenal back into this game. But the damage was done in the first half, with Stoke scoring in the first 20 seconds. Calum Chambers was sent off for a 2nd bookable offence with the game at 3-2. 2009-10: Stoke 1-3 Arsenal: Our only other PL win at Stoke before the 4-1 in May. But it’s the injury to Ramsey that everyone will remember from this one. The Gunners responded well despite being visibly shaken following the incident. Fabregas and Vermaelen scored late on to secure the win.

And that’s that…

So that’s all I’ve got ahead of this one. Arsenal will be hoping to make it two from two at the start of the new season. Stoke will have their own goals, mainly hoping to bounce back from their defeat to Everton last week. There’s always a bit of an atmosphere when Arsenal go to Stoke. Hopefully it’ll go as well for us on Saturday as it did back in May!

I’ll be back next week to preview our next match: we go to Liverpool!

Until then, be good! And thanks for reading!