Stoke 1-4 Arsenal: Highlights and recap

Arsenal beat Stoke 4-1 in the Premier League on Saturday, May 13. Here are all the highlights from the match.

Arsenal’s slim top four chances likely depend on them winning all their remaining matches, and so they couldn’t have been thrilled with the prospect of a trip to their old rivals Stoke. In the vent, the Gunners ran out deserved winners after a mostly lifeless first half.

They controlled possession early on, but struggled to create many chances. Shkodran Mustafi forced an excellent save from Jack Butland on a corner, while Nacho Monreal hit the post with a header, but other than that early flurry it was a largely uneventful first half.

Stoke certainly didn’t help. The Potters looked disinterested — understandable given they’ve got nothing left to play for this season — though Xherdan Shaqiri and Marko Arnautovic occasionally threatened off the dribble.

With the match seemingly limping to the break scoreless, Arsenal broke the deadlock. Olivier Giroud tapped in at the back post from Hector Bellerin’s cutback to give his side an extremely valuable lead in the race for the Champions League.

The second half got off to much better start, with Mesut Ozil doubling Arsenal’s lead within five minutes of the restart, poking past Butland after a wonderful Alexis Sanchez pass.

Mark Hughes, rightly concerned with his side’s performance, brought on Peter Crouch to try and provide a greater focal point for the Potters attack. He had an immediate impact as Stoke pegged Arsenal back with a series of dangerous crosses, and eventually scored, flicking in an Arnautovic cross at the near post. However, replays showed the English forward used his hand, not his head, to score.

Arsenal, undeterred, reestablished their two-goal cushion soon after. Sanchez was the scorer this time, advancing past several Stoke players into the box and finishing low into the bottom left corner. Giroud put the result beyond doubt in the 80th minute, tapping in Aaron Ramsey’s cross from close range.

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Highlights

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Arsenal pulled within a point of Liverpool with the win. They still need the Reds to slip up to make the top four, but given Jurgen Klopp’s side’s struggles since the turn of the year, that’s definitely a real possibility.