Ramsey to miss season after leg break
• Young midfielder out for rest of season and perhaps longer
• Operation on horrifically broken leg described as successful
Arsenal have confirmed that Aaron Ramsey broke both bones in his lower right leg in a horrific collision at Stoke yesterday.
The young midfielder will miss the rest of the season after a successful operation on his tibia and fibula. Having been rushed to a local hospital yesterday afternoon, he is expected to be moved to London today.
Play was held up for five minutes after Ramsey was tackled by Stoke City’s Ryan Shawcross. Several players appeared distressed – two were sick. Shawcross left the field in tears after being shown a red card. Arsenal won the match 3-1.
Arsenal’s manager, Arsène Wenger, called the tackle “horrendous” and said a three-match ban for the red card would be “just ridiculous”.
Stoke’s Tony Pulis, while condemning the tackle, defended Shawcross, saying he “would never, ever go out to hurt a fellow professional”.
An Arsenal statement said: “The operation successfully reduced the fractures and whilst it is too soon to state an exact timescale for recovery, Aaron will certainly miss the remainder of this season. Our thoughts are with Aaron.”
Adebayor ‘never wanted to leave Arsenal’
• Togolese striker claims ‘Arsène didn’t want me anymore ‘
• Predicts hostile reception at Emirates Stadium on 24 April
The Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor knows his return to the Emirates Stadium will be “hell” but says he never wanted to leave Arsenal.
“Arsène Wenger can never say that I wanted to leave,” Adebayor told the French television channel Canal Plus. “It was because Arsène didn’t want me any more.”
Adebayor’s move to City was shrouded in mystery, with reports of dressing-room bust-ups. The Arsenal manager has always maintained the forward asked to leave.
“The most annoying thing about the whole story is when people say I wanted to leave for the money,” said Adebayor.
“If I had really wanted to, I would have left two years ago for the money and gone to Milan or Barcelona.
“I read that it was me who was the troublemaker in the changing room. That’s unbelievable. If one player can say that I, Emmanuel Adebayor, spoke badly to anyone in the changing rooms then I’d honestly like to know who it is. It has never happened in my life.
“If Arsène has a big heart we can go on a TV show to have a debate and he will never say I told him I wanted to leave the club. He’ll never say that. He knows it full well.”
Adebayor spent three and a half years in north London before moving to City for £25m last summer.
“It will be 90 minutes of hell,” he said of City’s scheduled trip to the Emirates on 24 April. “The fans will boo me, insult me, because, until now, they haven’t understood why I left. I’m the bad guy.”
The Togo international caused a row in September when he ran the length of the Eastlands pitch to celebrate a goal in front of Arsenal fans.
He said: “I shouldn’t have done that [the celebration] but we are all human. I made a mistake, but who doesn’t?”
Adebayor, who scored twice in City’s 4-2 win in that match, was also found guilty of violent conduct after an incident involving a former team-mate, Robin van Persie.
Ryan Shawcross insists there was ‘no malice’ in tackle on Aaron Ramsey
• Stoke defender ‘deeply upset’ over Ramsey’s broken leg
• Shawcross ‘has no bad blood in him,’ says Tony Pulis
Stoke City’s Ryan Shawcross last night insisted there was “absolutely no malice” in the challenge on Aaron Ramsey which led to the Arsenal midfielder suffering a broken leg.
The 19-year-old Ramsey was taken to hospital after a tackle by Shawcross, who was later called up to the England squad to play Egypt next week, as the Gunners came from behind to win 3-1 at the Britannia Stadium.
Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, was enraged by the tackle, which he described as “horrendous”, but in a statement issued by Shawcross, the player, who was sent off, is adamant there was no intent.
The statement read: “There was absolutely no malice in the challenge. I would never, ever go out to hurt a fellow professional. I am deeply upset that Aaron has suffered such a bad injury and my thoughts are with him. I would like to send him my best wishes too for a speedy recovery.”
The 22-year-old’s sentiments were echoed by his club, who added in the statement: “Stoke City would like to send their best wishes to Aaron Ramsey and Arsenal Football Club.”
They added: “The club do, however, wish to make it quite clear that there was absolutely no malice in the challenge from Ryan Shawcross which caused the injury.”
Tony Pulis said: “On behalf of everyone at Stoke City, we would like to express our deepest sympathy to Aaron and Arsenal at what has happened today.
“Our thoughts are with him and his family. We hope he makes a speedy recovery and everyone here wishes to see him back on the football field as soon as possible.”
The Stoke manager also defended Shawcross, adding: “Ryan Shawcross has no bad blood in him whatsoever. There is no way in a million years he would ever go out and try to hurt someone.
“The lad was heartbroken at what has happened, you could see as he came off the pitch that he was in tears and he feels devastated that Aaron has been so badly injured.”
Arsène Wenger tears into tackle that shattered Aaron Ramsey’s leg
• Arsenal manager calls Ryan Shawcross tackle ‘horrendous’
• ‘If I have to live with that, I don’t want to be involved’
Arsenal snatched one of the most dramatic victories of the season at the Britannia Stadium to move within three points of the league leaders, Chelsea, but Arsène Wenger said it was “impossible to enjoy it” in view of the broken leg suffered by Aaron Ramsey under challenge by Ryan Shawcross, who was sent off and left the pitch in tears after seeing the seriousness of what he had done.
Wenger described Ramsey’s injury as “horrendous” and the tackle that caused it “unacceptable”, adding it was “ridiculous” that Shawcross would be suspended for only three matches. The Arsenal manager was so upset by what had happened to his 19-year-old midfielder that he preferred to concentrate on that, rather than the win secured by two late goals, in the 90th minute and the fourth minute of added time.
“It is a bad break, and Aaron will be transferred to hospital in London to see if emergency surgery is needed”, he said. “This is a young player who has been kicked out of the game. I’m shocked, that wasn’t football. If I have to live with that, I don’t want to be involved in the game. My players were too upset to celebrate.”
For Wenger and the Arsenal team, the injury was horribly reminiscent of the compound fracture suffered by Eduardo at Birmingham in 2008 and, as at St Andrew’s, Ramsey’s plight was such that players from both sides turned away from the sight, and at least two were ill on the pitch.
Wenger said: “This is the third player – Eduardo, Diaby and now Ramsey – we’ve lost to tackles that are unacceptable, and spare me the articles tomorrow about how nice Shawcross is because we had all that with Eduardo.”
Tony Pulis, the Stoke manager, countered that Wenger had no proper knowledge of his player’s character: “The game pales into insignificance. Obviously it’s a bad break and it was a bad challenge. The boy is a fellow Welshman and I’m devastated because he’s a great player who has the world at his feet. But Ryan has come off the pitch crying and he’s broken-hearted. I know him well, he’s got no bad blood in him, and there’s no way he’d set out to hurt a fellow professional.”
Wenger was proud of the way his team recovered their composure sufficiently to win 3-1 with a late penalty from Cesc Fábregas and an even later tap-in from Thomas Vermaelen. Of his team’s title prospects, he said: “This has strengthened our belief and our determination.”
Stoke City 1-3 Arsenal | Premier League match report
Arsenal gained the victory they needed to take full advantage of Chelsea’s defeat earlier in the day, and move to within three points of the league leaders, but their celebrations were muted after a serious injury sustained by Aaron Ramsey, who was carried off after an incident that evoked horrible memories of Eduardo’s compound fracture at Birmingham in 2008.
Ryan Shawcross was sent off for the challenge, and left the pitch visibly sickened by what he had done. To their credit, Arsenal recovered from the shock sufficiently to score twice at the death, with a penalty from Cesc Fábregas and a tap-in from Thomas Vermaelen.
It was a toss up which side came into the game with higher morale – Stoke unbeaten in 2010 or Arsenal, who had thrust themselves back into title contention with successive victories.
Tony Pulis came down on the side of boldness, recalling Abdou Faye and Andy Wilkinson in defence after suspension in the strongest available line-up. Injuries denied Arsenal important players in Andrey Arshavin, William Gallas, Robin Van Persie and Abou Diaby, creating a starting place for Sol Campbell but not for Theo Walcott, who was again on the bench, as was Eduardo, who is still short of match fitness.
One would have thought they must have practiced ways of countering Rory Delap’s threat all week, but if they had, it was to no avail. Just seven minutes had elapsed when Delap hurled the ball in from the right and Shawcross got to it ahead of Bacary Sagna, redirecting it to the far post, where Danny Pugh headed home at perfunctory range. How the home crowd loved that, taunting Arsène Wenger, who has been critical of Stoke’s methods, with choruses of: “We only score from our throw-ins.”
Pulis won’t apologise for any of that of course, nor does he need to, having devised an uncommonly effective use of limited resources. The goal gave his team a lift, and the initiative, putting Arsenal on the back foot, and the game was 25 minutes old before Fábregas produced their first strike at goal, from distance.
It met with no success, but it did spark Arsenal into action, and after 31 minutes they drew level, Nicolas Bendtner bisecting the centre-halves to get to Fábregas’s right-wing cross and score with a towering header from 10 yards. Thomas Sorensen was left with no chance, the ball beating him high to his left.
Arsenal thought they should have had a penalty four minutes into the second half when Ramsey, after receiving a short through pass from Fábregas, toppled 12 yards out under Faye’s challenge. The referee concluded, not unreasonably, that the defender had hustled for possession legitimately and that the Welshman had fallen unnecessarily.
After Stoke’s assertive start, the initiative had changed sides, with Fábregas increasingly influential, and just short of the hour mark Sorensen was happy to touch over Emmanuel Eboué’s thunderous drive from the edge of the area.
Arsenal’s economical, progressive passing was testing the stamina of their opponents who had battled for two hours in their midweek FA Cup replay defeat of Manchester City and Danny Collins was introduced from the bench on the hour.
Stoke still had their moments, notably when Almunia dropped another Exocet from Delap, and the match was boiling towards an intriguing climax when the appetite for it was dulled by Ramsey’s horrible injury. Such was its seriousness that at least two players were ill on the pitch and it was five minutes before the young midfielder could be carried off, to be replaced by Tomas Rosicky.
Inevitably the atmosphere changed – and not for the better. The Arsenal fans called the opposition “scum”, while the home crowd lionised Shawcross by chanting his name.
Stoke were consigned to their first defeat in 12 games when a handball by Pugh allowed Fábregas to score from the spot in the 90th minute and Sorensen’s failure to hold Rosicky’s shot enabled Thomas Vermaelen to make it 3-1 in added time.
THE FANS’ PLAYER RATINGS AND VERDICT
Chris Baldwin, Stoke.VitalFootball.co.uk I was too far away from the Shawcross incident to judge, but from where I was there certainly didn’t seem to be any malice in the tackle on Ramsey. Both went in hard, though, and the outcome ruined the game. We had been defending well and at 1-1 had more than a chance to get something. Up front we had a problem with Fuller and Sidibé, neither of whom looked switched on, probably as a result of their midweek exertions. Arsenal struggled with Delap’s throws – you would have thought they would have known what to expect. The penalty looked a bit harsh. I saw the arm go up and I suppose on that score I can’t have too many complaints.
The fan’s player ratings Sorensen 7; Wilkinson 7, Shawcross 5, Faye 6 (Collins 60 6), Huth 7; Delap 7, Whitehead 7 (Lawrence 77 6), Whelan 7, Pugh 7; Sidibé 6, Fuller 6 (Tuncay 80 6)
Toby Moses, Observer reader I’ve got nothing against the physical side of the game, but questions need to be asked about where to draw the line with the old ‘Arsenal don’t like it up ‘em’ mantra that teams trot out. By all means go in hard and fair, but it shouldn’t mean clubs have a free pass to kick us all over the pitch. Maybe if the refs cracked down, players like Shawcross wouldn’t imagine they can get away with a tackle that has left a fantastically talented, British, teenager’s career in jeopardy. Three time in the space of a few years doesn’t seem like a coincidence to me. Frankly the result pales into insignificance.
The fan’s player ratings Almunia 6; Sagna 7, Vermaelen 7, Campbell 7, Clichy 7; Song 7; Eboué 7 (Walcott 75 n/a), Fábregas 8, Ramsey 8, (Rosicky 69 7), Nasri 7 (Eduardo 83 n/a); Bendtner 8
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Wenger angry at tackle that caused Ramsey horror injury
• Midfielder suffers horrific injury
• Arsenal come back to win match
The Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, was upset at the tackle that caused Aaron Ramsey an horrific injury during his side’s 3-1 win at Stoke.
Ramsey was injured in the second-half in a tackle with Ryan Shawcross, who was sent off and left the pitch in tears after seeing the extent of Ramsey’s injury.
“I’m not very happy with the tackle,” said Wenger. “We know what we are expecting, a battle everywhere, but we have now lost three players on horrendous tackles and I refuse to believe it’s always coincidence.
“I don’t believe it when you are hit as many times as we are. I just believe in what I see and when you see a player getting injured like that it’s not acceptable. Commitment is right, but that is not right.”
Wenger added that he expected Ramsey to be out for a lengthy period: “I’m very proud and of course very sad because of what happened,” said the Arsenal manager. “We know it’s a bad injury. We have to transfer him to London tonight to see if he needs emergency surgery. We don’t know how long he will be out but it’s certainly long term.”
The game was level at 1-1 when the incident occurred but Arsenal somehow regrouped and scored two late goals to secure victory. “We could see the team was shocked but this team is very strong mentally and we will do it for Ramsey as well because he deserves it,” Wenger added.
Cesc Fábregas was saddened at yet another serious injury suffered by a team-mate: “In five years I’ve seen three of them, Abou [Diaby], Eduardo and now Aaron. What can I say? It’s difficult.
“You could say we are not protected enough. We are sometimes victims. I’m not complaining, football is like that.
“There are things that are a little too much but three times in five years is a little bit too much.”
Stoke City 1-3 Arsenal
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Full time: Stoke 1-3 Arsenal Arsenal get into a post-match huddle, and their body language is that of a team that has turned a corner. A late goal on the day of the Eduardo injury ruined their 2007-08 title challenge; a late goal on the day of Aaron Ramsey’s equally awful injury has ignited their 2009-10 title challenge. The sense of unity was palpable in those last 10 minutes. Yet all that really matters is the awful leg-break suffered by Aaron Ramsay. Thanks for your emails; night.
90+6 min Fabregas needlessly sssshs the Stoke bench.
GOAL! Stoke 1-3 Arsenal (Vermaelen 90+4) Arsenal score again, this time from a short corner. Sorensen plunges to his right to make a fine save from Rosicky’s low 25-yard drive, but Fabregas follows up to square the ball for Vermaelen to tap in. Brilliant stuff from Fabregas, who was so alert to the possible rebound. Arsenal celebrate wildly, and they will feel that – the Ramsey tragedy aside – they have taken a really important stride towards the title today.
90+3 min That looked like a better shout for a penalty: Collins just shoved Bendtner over, six yards out. That was a clear penalty in fact, but Peter Walton said no.
90+2 min There will be seven minutes of added time, but Stoke don’t have a chance here. Arsenal are just playing keepball.
GOAL! Stoke 1-2 Arsenal (Fabregas 90 pen) Fabregas scores, but only just. Sorensen, who saved a penalty from Fabregas in the return fixture, dived to his left and got a hand on it, but it was sidefooted close to the corner with good power by Fabregas and just sneaked in.
90 min: ARSENAL GET A PENALTY Bendtner tried to flick a return pass to Song, but it hit the outstretched arm of Pugh. In Pugh’s defence he was trying to pull his arm out of the way, and he was only a few yards away from Bendtner. You could call that either way really: on the one hand it wasn’t deliberate, but you could say he was reckless in having his arms outstretched.
89 min It is all Arsenal. Bendtner’s shot is blocked desperately by Huth, and then Lawrence just prevents a corner.
87 min Eduardo misses a great chance. With bodies packed on the edge of the area, Alex Song scooped a beautiful ball in behind the defence for Eduardo; he chested it down neatly but then, from only six yards, lashed the bouncing ball just wide of the near post. What a chance that was.
85 min Fabregas’s very dangerous, gently inswinging free-kick clears everyone and drifts just wide of the far post. It was a real opportunity for Sol Campbell in particular, but he stopped his run for no particular reason.
84 min Eduardo comes on for Nasri, so Arsenal will play 4-4-2 with Walcott – who came on a few minutes ago for Eboue; I missed that – and Rosicky wide of Fabregas and Song. Eduardo and Bendtner are up front.
83 min “Listening in on the radio, and the commentators seemed certain that was a red the moment they announced the challenge,” says Scott W. “(Of course, I have no idea how soon after the tackle they announced it.) Apparently, Pat Rice has complained about the delay getting a stretcher on the pitch; and the police are gathering on the touchline – Craig Burley has suggested they might be there to arrest Shawcross for assault. I don’t think he’s joking.”
82 min Rosicky drags a shot wide. Eduardo is about to come on. I wonder what he’s thinking. “This is what happens when the media and everyone else say, ‘O it’s cute to kick pretty Arsenal around,’” says Xerxes Wilson. “It’s in everyone’s head to just keep fouling the little Arsenal kids.” I take your point but I think that, in this instance, that is a desperately unfair thing to say.
80 min “Watching the live feed again, it looks like Shawcross went to reach and kick the ball but Ramsey just touched it away right before and Shawcross simply ended up kicking Ramsey’s leg,” says Jonathan Francis. “No intent and I don’t think anything more than a normal foul. The severity of the injury absolutely was the reason for the red. The result looked awful, but after all the emotion settles, the red should be rescinded. It won’t but it should.”
Gary Naylor makes a similar point: “I have played back the Shawcross foul and it appears that Shawcross made to kick the ball and, running quite quickly, kicked Ramsey’s leg very hard. There was a big impact and, from the reaction, probably a bad-looking break. From the one angle I have seen, Shawcross did not go over the ball, had no braced leg nor studs showing and probably has made a similar challenge hundreds of times. I wish Ramsey well, but let’s not be too hasty in any condemning of Shawcross until we get a
chance to analyse what happened in a flash.”
If it wasn’t a two-footed challenge or anything of that nature – and it seems it clearly wasn’t – it has really worrying implications for football in the medium-term given that the game is getting faster and faster.
79 min Arsenal are having loads of the ball but there is an absent-minded feel to their work, as you would expect. What a horrible business. For Stoke, Tuncay replaces Ricardo Fuller.
78 min “I just re-watched the tackle, and it looks more like they ran into each other at great speed,” says Ben. “Certainly Shawcross’s leg collided with Ramsay’s leg in quite a violent fashion, but it looked accidental. I don’t really plan on watching it again so as to be able to describe it more accurately.”
77 min Whitehead whips a dangerous ball across the face of Arsenal’s six-yard box, with no striker there to take advantage. Moments later he is replaced by Dean Whitehead.
75 min “I saw the broken leg on a P2P stream,” says Arvind Rahman. “Part of his right leg appeared to be hanging. Looks like a clean break of the tibia and the fibula. He will be out for at least a year.” You would not wish this on anyone, of course, but it feels particularly cruel that it has happened to one of the smartest and classiest young players Britain has produced for decades.
74 min “Smyth,” says Iain J Christ. “Seeing ANDERSON Luis de Abreu Oliveira on that list, alongside such greats as Cesc, Landon and Nii Lamptey gives me strange feelings that maybe, just maybe, everything is going to turn out alright once he’s had a summer getting bored of top of the range hats and radical cars. Not least because I’ve been telling everyone who’ll listen for the last two years that his unique blend of stylin’ gear, huskiness, speed and brain-boiling backspin through balls is going to be at the very least good and not a Florent Sinama Pongolle.”
I loved Anderson in his first season, and there are issues over him being misused tactically, but I think that, like Walcott, his great future is behind him. And imagine how big Anderson’s backside will be after six months without training.
73 min There is an inevitably eerie feel to the game. Stoke have moved Pugh to left back and Collins to centre-back in a 4-3-2 formation. Bendtner, played through on goal by Rosicky, is fractionally offside.
72 min As I said, I haven’t seen the tackle – but, at first, Alan Smith at Sky said at first that he wasn’t sure it was a red-card offence and that the severity of the injury might have influenced the referee. I haven’t a clue. Did anyone see it?
71 min The game resumes but, as we saw with that Eduardo game at Birmingham a couple of years back, it’s not easy just to resume normal service. Rosicky has replaced Nasri.
70 min Ramsey is being very carefully moved onto a stretcher and is now being helped off to sympathetic applause from both sets of fans, straight into an ambulance by the side of the pitch. We can only wish this brilliantly talented young footballer well.
69 min Even now, three minutes on, Vermaelen has his hands to his mouth, blowing hard into them as he tries to make sense of it all. I still haven’t seen the replay; I didn’t even see the original tackle as I was looking at emails. The Sky commentator Ian Darke has just said that the pictures are “upsetting and sickening” and that’s why there is no replay.
66 min: SHAWCROSS SENT OFF AND RAMSEY SUFFERS HORRIFIC INJURY Oh this is horrible. Shades of Eduardo’s injury. A number of players from both sides have their hands on their heads in horror. I genuinely can’t look because it’s so horrible. Shawcross is walking off in tears. Even now, Vermaelen is on his knees, hands on his head. This is horrible. They are not showing the replay and that must mean it is really, really bad.
65 min Vermaelen heads Fabregas’s floated free-kick miles wide from 15 yards. It was no sort of chance. A few seconds later, after a long kick from Sorensen, Fuller’s left-footed snapshot from the left corner of the box is easily saved by Almunia.
64 min “How’s Ryan Shawcross getting on?” asks Scott W. “England form? Or a Paul Doyle-usion? Personally, I reckon England’s back four could be P. Neville, Konchesky, Lescott, Upson and we’d still get knocked out in the same round.” Shawcross is excellent but not England class in my humble one; not yet anyway. Lord knows who plays if and when Ferdinand’s body collapses on the morning of a match in South Africa. I’d bring Ledley King.
63 min Talking of lost talents, this page is interesting if you are a truly diabolical nerd like me. I wonder what Fode Camara is doing right now. And what happened to that Cesc kid?
62 min Song is booked for obstructing Delap on the halfway line. I’m not even sure it was a foul, but the yellow card is Song’s 10th of the season, and that means he’ll miss the next two league games.
61 min A Stoke substitution: Danny Collins on, Abdoulaye Faye off. Collins goes to left-back and Robert Huth to centre-back. No injury, just a tactical change.
60 min A very good save from Sorensen. Eboue miscontrolled the ball into space, ran onto it and then howitzed one towards goal from 25 yards with his right foot. It was pretty central but swerving away from Sorensen at serious speed, and he did very well to dive to his left and push it over the bar with both hands.
59 min Almunia makes a pitiful Horlicks of Delap’s first long throw of the second half, and Peter Walton feels so sorry for him that he gives a free-kick. That’s a truly pathetic decision from the referee, although I should stress that it didn’t matter because a defender had punted the ball clear after Almunia made a mess of his punch.
58 min Fabregas is, as Alan Smith on Sky points out, running this now. Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas. Imagine.
57 min Stoke, of course, went to extra time on Wednesday. They are start to chase a few shadows, although the strength of their spirit is such that they can probably overcome any fatigue.
55 min Arsenal have had 65 per cent of the possession this half, which feels about right given the way the game has gone. So far it has followed a very similar pattern to the FA Cup tie between these two last month. Stoke won that, but Arsenal have their best team out now and this match, for Stoke, will take a deal of winning, or even drawing.
54 min “Big Oggy’s face does play by the rules – Picasso’s rules,” says Gary Naylor, who actually is an oil painting.
53 min Three corners inside a minute for Stoke, but Arsenal defend them fairly comfortably.
51 min “Re: footballers who burn out early,” says Colin McCracken. “Are there any sadder or more morbidly fascinating examples than Nii Lamptey?” Probably not. This piece is heartbreaking.
50 min A few seconds aftger that penalty appeal, Clichy’s right-footed shot from range is well struck but straight at Sorensen.
49 min Arsenal have a big shout for a penalty when Ramsey, under pressure from Faye, goes down in the box. “Certainly a barge in the back” says Alan Smith, but then he does sleep under an Arsenal duvet. It was, at best, clumsy from Faye. Having seen it again I reckon that was a penalty; he kneed Ramsey up the arse, basically.
48 min A bitty start to the half. “I was born at the same time and hospital as Steve Ogrizovic’s baby,” says Ben Bennett. “He had a girl i think, which considering he had a face that played by its own rules is a terrifying thought.”
What a fantastic line that is: a face that plays by its own rules. I’ll be nicking that line and no mistake!
47 min Arsenal 4-2-1-3? Nah. Song definitely plays deeper than Ramsey. Being a tactics tragic, I’m going to do a blog on this next week, discussing how we should denote formation now that the pitch has nine or ten lines rather than just defence/midfield/attack.
46 min Arsenal kick off from left to right. At the risk of sounding like an oily salesman with an Avon catalogue, I reckon the next 45 minutes will decide the title race.
Half-time emails
“Is over achieving with limited resources (like McLeish and Pulis) a different skill from translating extensive resources into consistent excellence? It seems chief executives think so. Would a big four club genuinely consider appointing someone who has only manged smaller clubs, whatever their success or talent?” – Ben Shepherd.
“I’ll save Naylor the trouble, see your Pulis (40mins) and raise you David Moyes. Sure, Everton have more resources that Stoke (though probably not much) but what that guy has done this season and last is extraordinary in the face of an injury epidemic that has Liverpool ambulance drivers confusing Goodison for the local A&E department. And at times they’ve played some superb, attractive stuff too. While i’ve nothing against Stoke’s standard tactics (though agreeing that the directness is over-exaggerated), that’s got to count for something” – David Wall.
“John Lukic, with his basin haircut. A wonderful keeper of a generation when the English second strings seemed to be genius. Corrigan, Spink, Ogrizovic, Parkes, and more recently Martyn (who was truly great), Flowers and Coton. I was never a fan of Chris Woods for some reason. Mind you, I would love to see an English keeper of those standards available today” – Ben Dunn.
“Billy Kenny sadly failed to deal with his demons, but he was potential unfulfilled. Paul Lake was potential right on the cusp of fulfilment and then he was gone. Gary Shaw was potential fulfilled at club level and could have had the international career that Gary Lineker enjoyed, but he was gone almost as soon as he arrived as an international” – Gary Naylor.
“Here in the US, a grown man pretending he’s hard is called an Extenze commercial” – Mac Millings.
“Where’s Jonathan Wilson? Personally,I reckon Arsenal are playing a 4-2-Fabregas-3, if not a 4-2-4, with Fabregas as a ponta da lança” – Aidan Gibson.
Half time: Stoke 1-1 Arsenal See you in 10 minutes.
45 min Stoke scored too early. It meant that Arsenal had plenty of time to feel their way into the game with Stoke sitting off to defend their lead, and now Arsenal are well on top, albeit without giving Sorensen too much to do.
41 min Fabregas wins the ball but takes Shawcross down from behind in so doing, which prompts a few grown men to glare at each other and pretend they’re hard. You’re no Dave Mackay, lads.
40 min “Whose coaching achievement is the greater?” says Gary Naylor. “Wenger repeatedly qualifying for the Champions League (but winning nothing) or Tony Pulis establishing Stoke as mid-table Premier League scrapper (but not really threatening to win anything)? I give it to the man in the baseball hat – and he might just pinch the FA Cup.” I would love it if Stoke won the FA Cup, mainly to see the look on Jacob Steinberg’s face. Pulis has surely been better than any every other manager in the Premier League these last 18 months, not just Wenger.
39 min Arsenal win a free-kick 25 yards out, perfectly central. But the joy of Cesc isn’t in evidence this time: he slaps it into the wall.
38 min “Damaging moment for Wenger who will now be forced to admit that headed goals do count,” says Ben Shepherd.
37 min Stoke are looking a little jittery all of a sudden and Arsenal are looking sharper, if still well short of their best.
35 min “Being far more morbid than you, Rob, I am fascinated by young players whose careers are ruined by injury before they have confirmed their wonderkid credentials,” says Ian Copestake. “Wayne Harrison was a major player in those stakes.” Wasn’t he just. The saddest lost talent I’ve read about is Billy Kenny.
GOAL! Stoke 1-1 Arsenal (Bendtner 32) This is a brilliant header. Fabregas had too much room on the right to receive a short throw, take a touch and swing an accurate, dipping cross to the far post. It found Bendtner, who was leaping almost backwards away from Wilkinson and strained his neck muscles like the Incredible Hulk going off on one to loop a high-class header back across Sorensen and into the far corner from 10 yards. That is such a good goal.
31 min An extended spell of Arsenal possession, most of which is accompanied by loud boos. They are slowly, almost imperceptibly taking control of this game.
28 min “I bet Arsene moonwalked into training once the financial results were announced,” says Ian Copestake. “Surely he is in the wrong job as he is more a saver than a winner.” Like Nick Berry sang, Every loser wins, once the publication of the financial results begins…
That said, if Arsenal win today I think they will win the league. Yeah, yeah, and if my uncle liked Murder, She Wrote we’d get on ten times better.
27 min Fabregas’s corner from the left beats the flapping Sorensen and very nearly sneaks inside the far post.
26 min A decent effort from Fabregas, who runs on to a headed clearance, chests it up in the air and then hits a bouncing volley towards the near post from 25 yards. It was going wide but Sorensen made sure anyway, conceding the corner.
24 min Delap’s on the left this time, 40 yards out. Another flat, hard throw is headed away to Whitehead, 25 yards out. His shot is going miles wide but finds its way to Shawcross, in miles of space and onside. He miscontrols it. Had he killed that, he would have had loads of time to line up a shot because all bar one defender had pushed up for offside.
23 min An angled Delap throw goes right through everyone in the box and runs away for a goal-kick. Arsenal haven’t got a clue how to defend those throw-ins.
22 min “Why does Wenger even bother putting up a team against Stoke,” asks Arijit Sarkar. “The result was obvious even before kickoff. I wonder what odds were there on the first goal coming from a Delap throw-in!”
21 min Fuller is taken from behind by the increasingly exasperated Vermaelen, a brainless challenge and a clear foul. It’s getting a wee bit feisty.
20 min It’s Delap-time. This one is from deeper, and more of a looping throw, which comes to nothing.
19 min “Mr Bueno must be lightniong fast, as Rory takes 3-5 seconds to towel the ball and usually less than ten seconds to take a throw in,” says Paul Ashton. Time it, I have. BTW, is that a joint of beef or pork that you are rolling, and do you include stuffing?”
16 min Arsenal are having an almost indecent amount of possession now, but Stoke are defending with reasonable comfort.
15 min “As long as we’re doing plugs, how about a mention for my recently victorious all-night-five-a-side-charity-tournament winning team ‘Dry Hump’?” says Aidan Jackso-Evans. “We’re probably more Arsenal than Stoke in the style department, except we have the trophy to show for it. It also helps that there are no throw-ins in five-a-side.” With the head-height rule, a Stoke five-a-side team would be interesting.
14 min Bendtner shoots from 25 yards. It dribbles about seven miles wide of the far post.
12 min “As a neutral observer I’ve grown fond of the Rory Delap Throw-In TV Time-Out (TM),” says Joaquin Bueno. “It allows me to get up, make a snack, roll a joint, and grab a pint, whilst Rory lovingly towels off the dripping match ball and stretches his supple triceps.” What’s a joint?
11 min Goals change games, of course, and now Stoke are sitting deep, allowing Arsenal to pass the ball around, whereas before they were in their face high up the pitch. Why not just carry on the way you were? Anyway, Arsenal win their first corner, and do nothing with it.
GOAL! Stoke 1-0 Arsenal (Pugh 
That didn’t take long. Rory Delap’s first throw-in brings a goal. It was on the right and thrown flat and hard towards the six-yard line, where Shawcross got above everyone to flick a header towards the far corner. It was going wide, but Danny Pugh ran in to crouch and head into the net from a couple of yards. I think Shawcross was just helping it into a dangerous area rather than going for goal; either way, it was perfect for Pugh.
5 min “Where do you stand on the divisive Theo Walcott issue?” says Lee James. “Talented player recovering from a form-destroying bought of injuries, or an athlete with zero footballing intelligence? Personally I think he’s in the wrong side, would have fitted well into the counter-attacking Arsenal sides of yore but he has very little space to accelerate in these days.”
Being a morbid sort, I am fascinated by young players who don’t make it, and Walcott looks like he is going down that road. Sad, really. He’ll be playing in the Championship by the age of 26.
3 min A good start from Stoke, who are harrying Arsenal very high up the pitch, resulting in an error there from Song. Arsenal have not settled yet.
2 min Fuller slips away from Vermaelen on the right and drills in a dangerous low cross. Campbell clears.
1 min Arsenal are in their dark-blue away kit. Stoke kick off from left to right.
Pre-match email
“That Arsenal line-up has made me very nostalgic. There was something beautiful about the sparse – almost Supremacist/Constructivist – quality of that Arsenal kit (no, I’m not a Gooner); from the white sleeve demarcations to the plain bottle green goalie jersey, with the beautifully plain JVC logo the icing on the cake. Not to mention that Paul Davis, David Rocastle and John Lukic are three names that really should be more widely and fondly celebrated by afficiandos of English league football” – Scott W.
Team news
Stoke (4-4-2) Sorensen; Wilkinson, Shawcross, Abdoulaye Faye, Huth; Delap, Whelan, Whitehead, Pugh; Sidibe, Fuller.
Subs: Begovic, Lawrence, Beattie, Kitson, Diao, Sanli, Collins.
Arsenal (4-1-4-1) Almunia; Sagna, Campbell, Vermaelen, Clichy; Song; Eboue, Fabregas, Ramsey, Nasri; Bendtner.
Subs: Fabianski, Rosicky, Eduardo, Vela, Walcott, Silvestre, Traore.
Referee Peter Walton (Northamptonshire)
The Arsenal team the last time they won at Stoke, on 6 January 1990
Lukic, Dixon, P Davis, Thomas (Jonsson), O’Leary, Adams, Quinn, Richardson, P Groves, Bould, Merson (Rocastle)
I bet some serious quantitites of Gatorade were drunk on the coach home that night.
A wee plug from John Jordan “Can I just point out that the incredibly talented Rose Elinor Dougall is playing at the Winchester Discovery Centre tonight, and because the numpties there have failed to market it only 30 tickets have been sold? It’s only £6 to go and see one of the most brilliant solo artists out there currently, a plug in the MBM would work wonders!”
Well I don’t know about the last bit, given that we have twos of readers, but I agree with the rest. You can listen here, and may recognise Ms Dougall as the lady from the Pipettes. Dance with her pretty boy tonight.
Preamble The notion of the title decider is a seductive one, but the reality is that you don’t need to win the big games to win the title. Last season Manchester United dropped only two points all season against the bottom 12, winning the league despite being embarrassed home and away by Liverpool, and this year Arsenal have dropped only four.
No side since the War has won England’s top flight after losing all four games to the second- and third-place teams, but Arsenal might change that this season. Despite losing home and away to Chelsea and Manchester United, humiliatingly in the two home fixtures, they will be three points off top spot if they win today. They also have a much easier run-in, with only two games against the top eight, City at home and Spurs away. United and Chelsea have four, including each other and Liverpool.
Yet if Arsenal have been ruthless in disposing of the smaller sides so far, Stoke away is surely a different matter. It comes somewhere inbetween: it’s not a top-eight side, but the unique relationship between Stoke and Arsenal makes it a really hard game and compromises my thoroughly lazy attempt to divide the league into a top eight and a bottom 12.
Arsenal have lost both matches at the Britannia Stadium in the last couple of seasons, and the two sides could not be more ideologically opposed: Delap against Fabregas, artisans against aesthetes, rugged knee-tremblers against sensual love-makers, TK Maxx against Prada.
The perception remains that Arsenal simply do not like it up ‘em. A win today would look that perception up and down disdainfully, jab it in the chest and say ‘Do you want some?’ It would also, in my tiny mind at least, make them title favourites. (You can currently get 4-1, and if I hadn’t tindered my last on pints of Heavy last night I’d have some of that.) All told, it should be a cracker.
Squad sheets: Stoke City v Arsenal
Tony Pulis’s team have been on something of a goal rush at the Britannia Stadium of late, averaging more than two goals per home game this year. That includes, of course, January’s 3-1 win over Arsenal in the FA Cup and though Arsène Wenger will field a stronger team this time, this still represents a formidable hurdle for the Gunners. With Cesc Fábregas at the helm, the visitors will enjoy plenty of possession and can be expected to score at least once, meaning the result may depend on whether the absence of William Gallas hinders or aids their ability to defend set-pieces. Paul Doyle
Venue Britannia Stadium
Tickets £35-45 (0871 663 2008)
Last season Stoke 2 Arsenal 1
Referee P Walton
This season’s matches 17 Y40, R3, 2.53 cards per game
Odds Stoke 9-2 Arsenal 8-11 Draw 13-5
Stoke
Subs from Begovic, Simonsen, Beattie, Diao, Kitson, Am Faye, Tuncay, Davies, Ab Faye, Higginbotham, Etherington
Doubtful Etherington (knee), Higginbotham (knee)
Injured None
Suspended None
Form guide WDDWDD
Disciplinary record Y52 R3
Leading scorers Beattie, Etherington, Huth 3
Arsenal
Subs from Fabianski, Mannone, Traoré, Silvestre, Ramsey, Mérida, Rosicky, Eboué, Eastmond, Vela, Eduardo
Doubtful Eduardo (hamstring), Mérida (ankle)
Injured Arshavin (hamstring, 7 Mar), Diaby (knee, 7 Mar), Gallas (calf, 13 Mar), Djourou (knee, May), Gibbs (foot, May), Van Persie (ankle, May)
Suspended None
Form guide WWLLDW
Disciplinary record Y40 R0
Leading scorer Fábregas 12
Match pointers
• Arsenal’s last league win at the Britannia Stadium came in January 1982
• Ricardo Fuller has scored four goals in his last three starts against Arsenal in all competitions
• Arsenal have failed to score in their last three away games – they have not gone three in a row on the road without scoring since January 2001
• Thomas Sorensen has saved the last three penalties he has faced in the top flight
• If Arsenal score it will be their 400th Premier League away goal with Arsène Wenger as manager
Arsenal slash debts and announce profits
• Club cut net from £332.8m to £203.6m
• Group’s property business make £9.3m profit
Arsenal have announced that they have slashed their debts by over £100m after making pre-tax profits of £35.2m for the six months ending 30 November, 2009.
The financial half-year results reveal Arsenal Holdings plc’s total net debt has fallen from £332.8m to £203.6m – a reduction of £129.2m.
The club also announced significant progress at Highbury Square where the sale of 261 apartments raised £96.6m – an increase of £38.2m on 2008 – with all the proceeds used to pay off the project’s debt. The group’s property business recorded a pre-tax profit of £9.3m.
The figures are believed to include the sale of Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Touré to Manchester City for a combined fee nearing £29m, although the manager, Arsène Wenger, spent £10m to sign the defender Thomas Vermaelen from Ajax.
In the results, the north London club also reveal they have completed the first stage of investment in the Emirates Stadium and have reiterated their policy of re-signing first-team players on long-term contracts.
Peter Hill-Wood, the non-excecutive chairman, said: “I am pleased to report that the Group has delivered another profitable set of results for the first six months of the financial year.
“There has been remarkable progress at Highbury Square over the last 12 months and it is clear that the next couple of years will see our property activities delivering surplus cash. This is very good news, although I would not want to speculate on the exact quantum or timing of this.
“How we will use this surplus remains undecided but, in addition to investing in the team, I think we will examine investment in club projects and infrastructure, both in and around Emirates Stadium, which will provide a long-lasting benefit to the club and our tremendous, loyal supporters.
“Looking ahead, our strong financial base allows us time to take a measured and diligent approach to determining the club’s direction beyond our move to the Emirates Stadium and into the next phase of growth.”
Arsène Wenger plays down Kieran Gibbs’ World Cup chances
• Left-back expected to return before end of season
• Wenger backs Gibbs for international career
Arsène Wenger believes Kieran Gibbs could return from injury before the end of the season – but does not see him as the solution to England’s left-back problems.
Gibbs was last month ruled out for the rest of the campaign after undergoing surgery on the foot he injured during a Champions League match against Standard Liège in November.
The 20-year-old has made good progress in his recovery and the Arsenal manager admitted there was an outside chance he could play again this season.
With Ashley Cole sidelined by a serious ankle injury and Wayne Bridge announcing yesterday he does not wish to be chosen for England, there is a potential vacancy at left back in Fabio Capello’s World Cup team, but Wenger doubts that Gibbs will be a contender for the role.
“There is a chance he will be back [before the end of the season], if all goes well,” the Frenchman said. “But I can’t give you any date for his return to football and it’s very premature at the moment. He is still in a little cast and we are near the beginning of March.”
Wenger does see Gibbs, who has impressed on England Under-21 duty, as a great prospect for the future and reckons he will soon make the national team’s senior squad.
“I think he will one day play for the national team. I am convinced of that,” Wenger added.
Gibbs will be one of a raft of players missing for Wenger when the Gunners take on Stoke City tomorrow, with Abou Diaby, William Gallas, Robin van Persie and Andrey Arshavin also out.
The Croatia striker Eduardo could feature after recovering from a hamstring injury as Wenger eyes a victory that would keep his team in Barclays Premier League title contention. “The title race will be very tight,” Wenger said. “If you consider that the only chance we have is if we win our games, that is what we have to do. On Saturday, we have to be up for it.”