13th May 2017 | Premier League
Stoke v Arsenal Preview
The narrative is Arsenal’s customary late charge into the top-4 but this is where it ends.
It is said there are five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. The same could apply to Arsenal football club as we move from the depression stage to accepting that a top-4 finish is respectable after a difficult season.
The victory over Man Utd rekindled hopes to a top-4 but this is a different Arsenal team. On my ratings, they are still the sixth best team in the league and there is a gap to the top-5 who are closely bunching together, if we ignored variance.
I still firmly believe this is the season Arsenal come unstuck and where more apt then Wenger’s old-sparring partners Stoke.
Odds correct at time of publishing: 04:57 13th May, 2017 but subject to change