Stoke City v Arsenal - FA Cup

On Sunday we got up early and caught the 8am Arsenal Supporters' Bus from the Emirates Stadium up to Stoke-on-Trent to see Arsenal's 4th round FA Cup match against Stoke City. Stoke-on-Trent is situated in Staffordshire, about midway between Birmingham and Manchester. The bus trip took around three hours, although on the way up we had a comfort stop, which added some time.

We arrived in lovely Stoke-on-Trent around 12pm and thankfully the bus went straight to the Britannia Stadium. We had a couple of beers and a pie under the away fans' grandstand while the 4,800 Gooners warmed up for the match with a few chants.

Just four days earlier Arsenal had gone top of the premier league with a 4-2 victory over Bolton. While it would be fantastic to win the FA Cup, we have far bigger fish to fry this season - we have to focus on the premier league and the European Champions League, where we are in solid positions. With a raft of injuries and four massive premier league fixtures coming up in the next three weeks, manager Arsene Wenger had little choice to but to field a B team at Stoke. There were nine changes from the team that beat Bolton in midweek. Stoke are a decent side, particularly at home, and they play a very tough, abrasive brand of football - not always pretty, but usually effective.

The Gooners were in fine voice with the typical away-game chants coming out early - old favourites such as "We fill our stadium" in reference to the hundreds of empty seats in the home fans' section and "You've only come to see the Arsenal". There was also a lot of excitement around the return to Arsenal of defender Sol Campbell. Campbell last played for Arsenal in 2006 but just re-signed this month and this was his comeback match. He was pretty solid and you could see his experience and calmness having an influence on some of the younger players.

Sadly Stoke took the lead in the 2nd minute and had the better of the first half before Arsenal drew level just before half-time through a free-kick. Spirits were high in the away section as the second half got under way. It was a cracking match played at a pretty high pace in the second half. The last thing Arsenal wanted was a draw, which would have meant a replay in an already crowded fixture schedule, so Wenger took a gamble on 65 minutes and used all three of his substitutes in one go, bringing on some more experienced attacking players.

Unfortunately, as we pushed forward looking for a crucial second goal, we were caught on the break and Stoke hit the lead. They then scored a late third and won the match 3-1, knocking us out of the FA Cup. It was a slightly disappointing result, but it was always on the cards with the team we fielded. And it now means we can firmly focus on the premier league. Stoke played well and deserved to win, so we can have no complaints.

The bus trip home was pretty quick, with no stops, although we had to listen to a few disgruntled Gooners criticise the team selections and a few of the players...it was obvious a few fans cannot see the bigger picture! You can't play the same 11 guys for 60 games in a season!

Still, despite the loss, we had a good day - away games are a lot of fun. And we saw another special part of England...don't think we will be returning to Stoke...






Tim at
Britannia
Stadium












Inside the
Stadium















Megan before
the match













Arsenal
in blue























































Wenger not
looking
happy











Fabregas
taking a
free kick

Dejected

Gunners

Eduardo

and

Fabregas