Published: 23 September, 2013
by TOM FOOT at The Emirates

Premier League
ARSENAL 3, STOKE CITY 1

"SAY we are top the league, say we are top the league."

And justly so. Arsenal are in fine form – seven wins in a row in all competitions – and playing with some long-lost pomp to go with the attractive passing play.
Aaron Ramsey will be courted by Real Madrid next summer if he continues at this rate.

The Welshman upstaged big-money signing Mesut Ozil once again, collecting the man-of-the-match champagne after scoring a cathartic opener to banish bad memories of previous Stoke encounters. He pounced from close range after keeper Begovic spilled a tame free-kick by Ozil, wheeling away with a shushing gesture to the away supporters who moments before had been cheering the name of Ryan Shawcross, whose tackle broke his leg three years ago.

The festival atmosphere brought a false sense of security and a lull in intensity, however, and on 28 minutes Geoff Cameron rattled in the rebound after a Marko Arnautovic’s well-struck volley hit the post.

Per Mertesacker put the Gunners back in front on 39 minutes with a flicked back-header from an Ozil corner to make coach Steve Bould proud. Bacary Sagna repeated the trick in the second half with a looping header from another perfectly placed Ozil free-kick.

Serge Gnabry was awarded his first Premier League start after Theo Walcott was withdrawn from the warm-up with a “minor pelvic abdominal problem”. After the match, Arsene Wenger (pictured) said the injury was "a bit mysterious" and said he did not know how serious it was. The Gunners missed the extra threat down the wing, but Gnabry was solid and looks to have a good engine on him.

Jack Wilshere pulled the strings in midfield and picked out some masterful passes, while Olivier Giroud is showing some neat control to go with his battering-ram-striker style. Giroud greedily shot instead of teeing up Ozil early on in the second half, much to Wenger's rage, but it was good to see a striker playing with a bit of individualism. Ozil was not spectacular on his home debut but rarely put a foot wrong and there is a buzz of excitement when he gets the ball.

The fact he set up all Arsenal's goals was not lost on the statisticians. As predicted, he has set up more goals than anyone else in the Premier League so far.

Crucial to Arsenal's new run of form is Matt Flamini, whose strong and simple presence was particularly effective against a strong and tall team like Stoke. Back from injury, Mikel Arteta replaced Ozil for the last 10 minutes giving Wenger options for the coming run of games.

After the match, Wenger said: "We had two halves, fluent in the first half but lost our technical quality in the second. We showed we can dig deep and fight when under pressure and you don't expect to score three goals from set-pieces against Stoke – that was the biggest surprise."

Speaking about Ozil, he said: "The assists are not a coincidence, they are a reality of his game. He gave a lift to everyone at the club and it means we can focus on improvement in a stable environment."

He added: "When everyone was unhappy here I said it was my job to make everyone happy. I feel well now."