Stoke City survived a late Arsenal comeback to continue their impressive recent home form against the Gunners with a 3-2 victory at the Britannia Stadium this afternoon.
The hosts made a dream start to the contest when Peter Crouch capitalised on some sloppy defending inside the opening 20 seconds to give his side an early lead.
Bojan was on hand to convert goal number two from close range, before Jonathan Walters put Stoke well in command heading into the break.
Arsenal sparked a revival in the second half with Santi Cazorla's penalty being followed up by Aaron Ramsey's volley 20 minutes from time, but a red card issued to Calum Chambers ended any hopes of a dramatic recovery.
Here, Sports Mole takes a look back at how the thrilling 90 minutes of action unfolded.
Match statistics
STOKE
Shots: 10
On target: 4
Possession: 43%
Corners: 3
Fouls: 17
ARSENAL
Shots: 11
On target: 6
Possession: 57%
Corners: 9
Fouls: 14
Was the result fair?
For the best part of 68 minutes, Stoke looked as though they were going to run riot at the Britannia Stadium. Having taken a three-goal lead into half time, Bojan looked to have added a fourth only for his strike to be ruled out for offside. That seemingly sparked Arsenal into shape, and a goal apiece from Cazorla and Ramsey later, there was suddenly a completely different feel to the contest.
Credit should go to the Gunners for making a game out of this, because for so long it was very one sided in terms of shots on goal and chances created. That said, prior to setting up that dramatic finale, Arsene Wenger's side looked truly woeful as their defence continued to fall apart with wave after wave of Stoke pressure. The London outfit have now won just once on their last 10 league visits to this ground, and on this basis, that run may continue for a little while longer yet.
Stoke City's performance
It would be wrong to focus entirely on the final 20 minutes or so, in which time it was a case of Mark Hughes's charges sitting back and hoping for best. Up until Cazorla's opening goal for the visitors, Stoke looked calm and assured on the ball and caused the Gunners a great deal of problems. They may have lost their last three games coming into this one, but the Potters have looked lively in each of those, and they were duly rewarded for their positive start today when Crouch found the net within 19 seconds.
Stoke did not look back from that point, with Bojan now appearing to be one of the signings of the summer after producing a man-of-the-match performance for the second week running. His strike, combined with Walters's effort from a few yards out on the brink of half time, left the hosts in dreamland, before it all started to unravel. It is difficult to truly summarise City's performance, yet all that really counts is the fact that they saw off Arsenal once again in the end, to climb up to 12th place in the table,
Arsenal's performance
Just when Wenger's men had looked to have turned a corner, winning their last three games in all competitions, they came up against a side that they just cannot seem to beat on the road. A large part of this abject performance was down to their defending - or lack of it, as it turned out - which proved costly in all three of Stoke's goals.
First, Hector Bellerin's slip allowed Crouch to open the scoring, then Kieran Gibbs allowed a cross to come in from his side of the field which Bojan duly converted, and then Walters made matters worse when a corner was not dealt with. What makes the defensive showing all that more surprising is the fact that the Gunners had kept three clean sheets in succession coming into this one, although Laurent Koscielny's absence goes some way to explaining the rather disappointing performance. All-in-all it was a bad day at the office for Arsenal, who will now have to pick themselves up once more after failing to close in on the top four.
Sports Mole's man of the match
Bojan: His scintillating showing at Anfield last weekend was not truly rewarded with Liverpool running out late 1-0 winners, but he had the three points to go with his impressive display this afternoon. Whether it was on the right, left, or even through the centre, the former Barcelona man seemed to be involved in all of his side's attacks before being withdrawn late on.
Biggest gaffe
There is no denying that Alexis Sanchez has been Arsenal's key man for the best part of two months now, but this will have to go down as an off day. The Chilean looked lively in the opening quarter of the game, but from then on, things appeared to go against him. Whether it was failing to beat the first man with a corner, striking the post with an empty net to tap into, or taking a foul throw to relieve the pressure on the opponents, today proved that even the best cannot turn on the style on a cold, winter afternoon at the Britannia Stadium.
Referee performance
Anthony Taylor made a few strange calls in the first half, although it was the decision that he and his officials made later in the afternoon which could have cost the hosts dearly. Bojan found the net to add what he, and the whole of the stadium, thought was the Potters' fourth of the day, until it was ruled out after much deliberation.
Replays suggested that guilty party Mame Biram Diouf, who was deemed to be standing in an offside position in front of Emilliano Martinez, was in fact on the right side of the last defender. The decision sparked Arsenal into life, but it proved nothing more than a mere scare in the end to the relief of Taylor and company.
What next?
Stoke City: Having returned to winning ways this afternoon, City will be looking to push on when they travel to Crystal Palace next weekend.
Arsenal: The Londoners turn their attention to European action in midweek with a trip to Galatasaray, although they will have one eye firmly on their Premier League clash with Newcastle United next weekend.
Daniel Lewis
