Stoke City 1-1 Arsenal: A Potentially Vital Point

This was one of those matches that may not have been a roller-coaster of emotion and momentum swings (a section of us chanted "we're watching the wrong match", in reference to the mental 4-4 draw between Swansea City and Wolves), but the point gained on what has been a miserable hunting ground for us is the most important takeaway from the afternoon.

With all of our various injuries, the starting lineup essentially picked itself - the lone exception being Gervinho preferred in place of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. For the record, I believe that to have been the right move given Stoke's physicality...though as we'll discuss later, he also should have had some part to play later on in the second...