Arsenal has moved to within one point of the top four courtesy of a 4-1 win over Stoke City at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday.
Goals from Olivier Giroud and Mesut Ozil appeared to have put the Gunners on their way to a comfortable victory in a fixture, which has developed into a fierce rivalry in recent years, but Peter Crouch pulled one back to put the pressure on Arsene Wenger’s side.
However, an Alexis Sanchez strike restored the two-goal lead before Giroud capped off the scoring with his second of the evening to wrap up a crucial three points for the visitors.
Despite Arsenal’s dominance, it wasn’t until the 34th minute that any of their attacking players had a shot on goal, with Alexis Sanchez pouncing on a loose ball following a mistake from Glen Johnson only to see his subsequent low strike ripple the side-netting on its way behind.
Stoke had begun to grow into the game by that stage, but Arsenal’s opening goal was still deserved when it arrived just three minutes before half time as Giroud tapped Hector Bellerin’s low cross into an unguarded net from close range.
Just 10 minutes after the restart Arsenal doubled their advantage.
Ozil played a one-two with Sanchez, whose return ball was inch-perfect to split the defence and pick out Ozil in the box, allowing the German to take a touch before clipping a classy finish past Butland.
Petr Cech was forced into his first save of the game when he turned a header from Bruno Martins Indi over the bar, but there was nothing the Arsenal keeper could do when Stoke controversially pulled a goal back shortly afterwards.
On first glance it looked as though Crouch had halved the deficit with a firm header from Arnautovic’s cross at the near post, but replays showed that the sub had actually used his hand to steer the ball past Cech.
Cech made one routine stop to deny Berahino during that period, but the hosts’ revival was soon stopped in its tracks as Sanchez – struggling with an injury at the time – restored Arsenal’s two-goal cushion.
It was Sanchez’s 50th Premier League goal in his 101st game for the Gunners.
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