Stoke City v Arsenal team news & stats

Mark Holmes
Mark Hughes and Jonathan Walters: Tend to fare well against Arsenal

Mark Hughes and Jonathan Walters: Tend to fare well against Arsenal

Stoke City and Mark Hughes both boast strong home records against Arsenal ahead of Sunday’s Premier League clash at the Britannia Stadium.

Team news

Stoke are again likely to be without Xherdan Shaqiri, who has a hamstring injury, and Geoff Cameron, who is nursing an ankle injury. Marko Arnautovic was substituted in Wednesday’s win over Norwich complaining of a stiff hamstring, but the winger is expected to be fit, giving Mark Hughes the option of naming an unchanged side.

Arsenal, meanwhile, could welcome back Alexis Sanchez from the hamstring injury which has kept him out since November, while new signing Mohamed Elneny is available to make his debut should Arsene Wenger want.

Kick-off at the Britannia Stadium on Sunday is at 4.15pm.

Opta stats

  • Stoke City have lost just one of their seven Premier League games at the Britannia Stadium against Arsenal (W4 D2 L1).
  • Mark Hughes is unbeaten on home soil as an opposition coach against Arsene Wenger in his last seven Premier League matches (W5 D2), spread across five different clubs. Overall at home his record in the league versus Wenger is W6 D2 L2.
  • Eleven of the fourteen goals Stoke have scored against Arsenal in Premier League history have been netted in the first half.
  • Stoke scored with three of their four shots on target against Arsenal in this fixture last season and all of them came in the first half.
  • Jonathan Walters has scored in three of his last four appearances for Stoke in all competitions; this after going nine games in a row without scoring for the Potters.
  • Walters has scored in three of his five Premier League appearances against the Gunners at the Britannia Stadium.
  • Peter Crouch has scored eight goals against Arsenal, the joint-most against any opponent in his Premier League career along with Blackburn Rovers.
  • Joselu has scored twice and assisted once in his last three league appearances for Stoke, having failed to do either in his first seven Premier League games.
  • Arsenal have conceded seven goals in their last two Premier League away games. They had let in eight in the previous nine on their travels this campaign.
  • Olivier Giroud has the best minutes per goal ratio of any Premier League player this season to score more than five times, netting every 117 minutes on average.

Predictions

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