Chelsea’s 2 -1 defeat at Newcastle had reignited the faint hope of Arsenal coming back into the title race.That hope was extinguished 18 seconds after kick off when Peter Crouch scored the first of the three first half goals that Stoke were eventually going to put through Arsenal’s makeshift defence for the evening.
Santi Cazorla and Ramsey brought some of that hope back in the second half but 3- 2 was as far as they got.
Arsenal had lost three out of six games at the Britannia and had not won there since February 2010.
Not the kind of history you want to face up to with a makeshift defence.
It’s now four out of seven.