Making adjustments to deal with absent players is par for the course for all managers, and Arsène Wenger had something extra to factor in as he tried to construct a team to contend with his fixture horribilis without his creative hub. An inflamed toe on Mesut Özil’s right foot had been bothering him. Stoke were in a similar boat with Xherdan Shaqiri out of the picture, but Özil’s absence, in an accidental way, forced Wenger to reshuffle his formation and the platform was there to look more solid than is often the case at the Britannia.

Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey clears off the line to keep Stoke City at bay Read more

Escaping unscathed from this particular venue owed a great deal to the excellence of Petr Cech, whose series of saves in the second half underlined what an astute piece of business it was to persuade Chelsea to allow such a fine goalkeeper to join. Credit was also due to a rejigged midfield that had to compete with diligence to ensure that there was none of the Arsenal wobbles that have been known in these parts. Wenger improvised a little, bringing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in to sit in central midfield alongside Aaron Ramsey just ahead of Mathieu Flamini. It gave them more ballast, which was very much required for a team that had conceded seven goals in their last two away games.

Oxlade-Chamberlain might not be everybody’s idea of a conscientious central midfielder, even though Wenger has for some time been adamant this is his future position. Actually, for most of this season it has been hard to figure out quite what was going on for the 22-year-old at all. Since he caught the eye with a smart matchwinner to see off Chelsea in the Community Shield last August, his has been a complicated and underwhelming season. With injuries at certain points ruling out a stream of wide attacking midfielders, this should have been a big campaign for the England man. He struggled to seize the moment.

He has looked beleaguered at times. A tendency for lapses of concentration cost the side goals on occasion, and confidence seemed to drain out of his game. So it was an interesting call for Wenger to trust him with a key role in a difficult assignment. A visit to an icy Britannia Stadium would not appear to be the easiest fixture for a player to try to find some form. But Oxlade-Chamberlain settled down and performed his task carefully.

“He had some very interesting moments in the game,” noted Wenger afterwards. “He has shown his qualities to get out of pressure, and get past people in the final third. In the future this can be a very interesting position for him. We played 4-3-3 today because that position suits him well.”

It also gives Wenger food for thought going forwards with different personnel. Although they were not at their most fluid and imaginative at Stoke, the balance of the team in this formation can be useful considering some of the challenges to come away from home this season. Arsenal have to go to Old Trafford, White Hart Lane and the Etihad. With Francis Coquelin not far from a return, and Mohamed Elneny’s box-to-box qualities to be integrated – not to mention the more dynamic traits of Alexis Sánchez, Tomas Rosicky and Danny Welbeck looking to be back in contention soon – it gives Wenger an option when he feels he needs the platform of a more robust midfield.

It’s a compliment of sorts to the stylistic change that Mark Hughes has introduced that most of the Britannia Stadium bearpit ambience, usually so deliberately unsettling for Arsenal, felt more like a pantomime sideshow than a factor of genuine consequence. For all the chanting about the main protagonists in this peculiar rivalry – Wenger, Ramsey and Ryan Shawcross – the vibrations that have in recent encounters lifted Stoke and inhibited Arsenal seemed to have little impact on the pitch.

The aggression levels never got too heated. There was little rattling of cages. There wasn’t even a booking over the entire 90 minutes. For once, in this part of the world, there was no need for Arsenal to feel particularly fearful or anxious. And when they did, there was Cech to mop up.

There was a small trace of disappointment from Wenger that his team were unable to produce the spark to find a matchwinner of their own. A draw might not have been a perfect outcome but it was enough to take them back to the top of the league and ready to welcome back key players.

Wenger returns to London with no damage inflicted. Even the train journey, this time, will be a relatively calm one.