Arsenal face Stoke City in the Premier League at Emirates Stadium on Saturday. With Stats Zone, you can brush up on the facts and figures behind every Gunners match this season, brought to you by Opta and the Official Matchday Programme.
AT THE DOUBLE - ARSENAL SHARP SHOOTERS
ARSENAL'S RECORD IN FEBRUARY
PLAYER COMPARISON - WILSHERE v ADAM
In the same way that much of Arsenal's attacks flow through Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla, Charlie Adam pulls the strings for Stoke. The Scotland international's range of passing makes him a key figure in Tony Pulis' side, so closing him down and denying him space will be essential if the Gunners are to keep their opponents quiet on Saturday.
Adam tends to sit in the centre of a five-man midfield, andcan ous forward to sit on the shoulder of the lone striker when on the attack. He boasts an impressive pass success rate 74.9 per cent (although it remains inferior to Wilshere's superb 87.8 per cent), and has created 21 chances for his team-mates. The 28-year-old has attempted 25 shots on goal this season, but has only scored with two of the eight efforts that have landed on target.
Wilshere's influence, meanwhile, has been growing by the week after a string of exceptional performances. The 21-year-old has superior passing stats to Adam, and has also won more of his overall duels, aerial duels and made more recoveries than his opposite number. Wilshere is yet to score in the Premier League yet this season, however he has created 28 chances for team-mates with three of these directly leading to goals.
ARSENAL v STOKE CITY - MATCH FACTS
- Arsenal have won five and lost just one of their last eight Premier League games against Stoke (D2), with four of those wins coming at the four meetings they have had at Emirates Stadium
- Peter Crouch has scored seven Premier League goals against Arsenal; only against Blackburn (8) has he been more prolific
- There have been just six yellow cards shown in total across the four games between Arsenal and Stoke at the Emirates
- The Potters have won just one of their last 21 Premier League away games (W1 D9 L11)
- Stoke have conceded 15 goals in their last five Premier League games. They had conceded just 14 in their previous 19 games
- The Emirates has witnessed more goals than any other Premier League stadium this season (50)
- Arsenal have made more errors leading directly to a goal than any other team in the Premier League this season (12)
- Olivier Giroud has scored five goals in his last three appearances for Arsenal (all competitions)
- If only the second half of games counted this season Arsenal would be second (46 points), two points behind Manchester City (48)
- Stoke have drawn more games 0-0 than any other Premier League side this season (5)
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