Arsenal players went on a nightmarish journey this week, to the land of the giants; that must have seemed the case at least, when they lined up alongside Stoke whose average height exceeds 8ft. Arsenal meanwhile looked like half of the cast of 'The Wizard of Oz' who had taken a wrong turn. Things didn't look too rosy when it emerged that Arshavin was to take a central role in the Arsenal's front three, and he can't have been too fresh after his journey back from destroying the one ring in Mordor, but to his credit, his guile and agility proved invaluable in seeing off Stoke, and the Gunners ran out 2-0 winners.

Arsenal had lost the last three games, conceding seven and scoring none going into yesterday's contest. A reaction was necessary, the fans demanded it, but after 25 minutes, the game seemed to bear all the hallmarks of a contest where the home team do everything but score, and inevitable pay the price. Arshavin had missed a one-on-one, Fabregas had missed a penalty and Wenger was waving his arms frantically on the sidelines but to no avail. Cometh the hour, cometh the man: Arshavin needed just a moment to receieve a pass from Fabregas, take it into his stride, hold off a defender twice his size, and poke an inch perfect finish into the far corner. Spectacular.

Stoke's response was to pepper the box with throw-ins from Rory Delap, but an Arsenal defence that has managed about three clean sheets all season looked pretty comfortable throughout. If Stoke stay up this season (and they probably will) it will not be on the merit of their away performances against teams like Arsenal. Tuncay looked pretty lonely up front, his midfielders only pushing up to support him on set pieces, and after just one period of sustained pressure early in the first half, the Arsenal goal was rarely threatened in a meaningful way.

Still, a better team would have punished Arsenal's lack of strength and creativity in the same way that Chelsea did. Arshavin and Fabregas linked up well a couple of times, and they showed flashes of genius, but it was a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde show from the two of them as they both made sloppy mistakes. In the end though Stoke were made to pay for their lack of adventure as little Aaron Ramsey strode through the middle of their defence and curled the ball past Sorensen. Delap was taken off shortly after and Arsenal were home and dry.

Unconvincing, but Arsenal did what they had to do with the players that were available. I suppose that's all you can really ask for. Liverpool away next weekend, and with Rosicky added to an injury list that is reaching biblical proportions I can't see it going too well (unless of course Arshavin has another four goals in him). 'The Lads' have got their backs against the wall now, and Wenger is none too popular either after handshakegate, so maybe we'll develop that siege mentality that has served Liverpool and Chelsea so well down the years. Or maybe we'll fold like a house cards. Difficult one to call, especially if there's a joker in the pack, but erm, I'm all in. Ante up, Mr Wenger...