Stoke City vs Arsenal Preview: Gunners look to move closer to the top-four at the Bet365 Stadium

Arsenal take on Stoke City away from home in their third from last game of the season.

The Gunners will be looking to add another three points to their important tally coming towards the end of a fairly lacklustre season.

Arsène Wenger's men go in to this game on the back of five wins in their previous six matches. Having only won two out of the six before that.

The two teams met at Emirates Stadium in December - a fixture which saw the Gunners take a 3-1 win, courtesy of goals from Theo Walcott, Mesut Özil and Alex Iwobi to get rid of the 1-0 deficit caused by Charlie Adam early on.

A win would see Arsenal move one point behind Liverpool, with Liverpool playing West Ham the next day.

A tale of two seasons

Stoke find themselves in thirteenth position, but a loss against Arsenal could see them fall as low as sixteenth, one place above the drop-off point, depending on the results of other fixtures.

Whereas Arsenal find themselves fifth, with their eyes fixated on a top four finish. A win would see them edge closer. With neither team wanting to lose, this will be a very exciting game and we shouldn't be short of goals.

Fixing the hoodoos

Throughout Wenger's successful career, there has been a few things which eluded him to an extent. Travelling to Stoke certainly hasn't been his cup of tea over the years.

However, this season, he dominated Chelsea and beat Southampton away from home (twice). So could we see Arsene wanting to dodge another curse in what could be his final game at the Bet365?

Embed from Getty Images

Conflicting styles of play

Arsenal are very much known for their close and intricate passing movements; on the other hand, Stoke are known for having a very solid defence.

Arsenal have struggled this season to break down deep blocks, they seem to have wasted possession a lot by passing around the box before being dispossessed.

Should Arsenal get anything out of this match, they'll need to work their way around the tough defence of Stoke.