The Gunners have piled the pressure on Premier League leaders Manchester United after a 1-0 win against Stoke City at the Emirates. Arsenal are now just one point behind the Red Devils, albeit having played a game more. Squillaci scored the lone goal, but the victory tasted sour due to an injury suffered by Theo Walcott who will now miss the Carling Cup Final.

As Wenger said, “We did the job in a very professional way. We faced a Stoke team that defended very well, very compact, but we were intelligent, calm, patient and overall I believe that we were resilient as well when Stoke had their strong moments because we didn’t give in when they did what they do very well. And with Walcott, he has an ankle sprain and he’s out, for how long I can’t tell you, but for Sunday he is definitely out.”

This game was a true test for Arsenal’s title credentials considering their disappointing draw against Leyton Orient in the FA Cup and with their talisman, Robin Van Persie injured, many predicted Stoke may spring another surprise.

Arsenal as usual started brightly and within 60 seconds, Theo Walcott hit the post. Stoke City were shocked to the core and it was all one-way traffic after that. The passing, the movement, playing the game the Arsenal way was there for all to marvel at. In the 8th minute, a Nicklas Bendtner volleyed cross was met by the head of Sebastien Squillaci who from five yards out headed his first league goal for the club. Arsenal continued to dominate the game when Fabregas who looked to be struggling with an injury was taken off; cue the look of concern all around his teammates and the whole of the Emirates Stadium as everyone silently prayed his substitution was only a precautionary measure.

After Fabregas left the field, the game fell somewhat flat but Song and Wilshere continued to battle and dominate the midfield. Stoke rarely threatened the Arsenal goal apart from a 25-yard volley from Carew which had Szczesny scrambling to keep out. Nothing changed dramatically in the second half although Stoke began to look more assured going forward and ex-Arsenal player, Jermaine Pennant began to get see more of the ball. But in the 68th minute, as Arsenal attacked the Stoke goal, Arshavin skipped pass a tackle by Shawcross and crossed the ball to Walcott. Walcott seemed to mis-kick his attempt and then he was bundled over by Dean Whitehead, he lay on the ground in agony clutching his ankle, and the referee chose to play on which got the whole stadium seething with rage. Eventually, Walcott was taken off on a stretcher and the sight of him in continuous pain wasn;t a good omen.

With Walcott off and Denilson on, Arsenal had 20 minutes to hold on to their lead. Tony Pulis decided to go on the offensive by bringing on Ricardo Fuller who showed some excellent touches and you wondered why he wasn’t in the starting line-up. Predictably, they peppered the Arsenal defence with some long balls, but the Gunners resistance wasn’t about to be broken. Jermaine Pennant had a late free-kick which was only inches wide and this proved to be Stoke’s last chance to get anything from the game as Arsenal then decided to give a masterclass in how to keep the ball and run down the clock. The game finished 1-0 to the Gunners and next stop for them is a trip to Wem-ber-ley on Sunday.

On Tuesday, Spurs were defeated 3-1 at Bloomfield Road but did miss buckets of chances, which ultimately cost them the game, although the centre-back also conceded that the backline were poor. The loss saw Tottenham miss out on third spot, and concern about the lack of goals is understandable considering striker Peter Crouch has scored just twice this season and Jermain Defoe is yet to open his account in the league.

“We had all the chances, but they created four or five opportunities and scored three goals,” Dawson told the club’s official website. “We are bitterly disappointed with the goals we gave away and obviously not putting a few in the back of the net at the other end.

“The first one was a penalty and with the second we were on the attack and they broke away. It is normally us doing that to teams but they did it to us.”

“We knew at half-time and said make sure we get the next goal. If we could have got one early in the second half then they would have been on the back foot.”

The win moved Blackpool to 12th in the table, 5 points from the relegation zone and Spurs’ next fixture is on the 6th of March, and all their strikers should be working on their finishing because if they harbour any hopes of being in the top four, they simply have to do better offensively.

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