Where has the drive and determination gone from Arsenal when they knew they needed to come away from the Britannia Stadium with some points today?
They knew that it would be a battle against a very tough Stoke side but the tempo of the game In the first-half makes us wonder if it was not just Mesut Özil feeling tired as the Gunners just looked lackluster going forward almost walking at times rather than playing like a team eager to win the Barclays Premiership.
The first-half performance from both sides except for a rocket of a shot from Stokes Glen Whelan that Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczęsny had to parry away with two hands was uneventful with most of the match being played in the centre of the park.
The pace picked up a bit in the second-half but it was the home side who looked more likely to score and could have taken the lead when Peter Couch used his foot to try and score when the ball came for what would have been a perfect header.
Meanwhile at the other end Stokes Bosnian international shot stopper Asmir Begović never looked troubled claiming every high ball as his own.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger finally made a substitution on the hour mark bringing on Mesut Özil for Lukas Podolski and despite a few promising touches nothing was happening until Oxlade Chamberlin replaced Tomas Rosicky in the 74th minute immediately injecting some pace and purpose into the game that until then had been missing from Arsenal.
Charlie Adam was a very lucky boy not to be sent off after what appeared to be a stomp on Olivier Giroud that only he will know if it was malicious or not.
The only goal of the match came when Laurent Koscielny was adjudged to have handled the ball inside his area by referee Mike Jones.
This led to a Stoke penalty that was nothing of a certainty with Stokes penalty taker Jonathan Walters having missed four out of the last six.
This time however the ball beat Szczęsny to give what any neutral watching the match would call a deserved lead for the Potters after such poor football from Arsenal.
Substitute Yaya Sanogo who came on for Jack Wilshere wasted a great chance to equalise deep in stoppage time when with the goal open in front of him he fired the shot over the bar to sum up Arsenals day.
