That's more like it from Lee Grant - getting down smartly to keep out Theo Walcott who has a clear sight of goal. 

The Arsenal man is on 99 club goals, incidentally.

Lee Grant has been excellent since he came into the Stoke team but the keeper's lucky here, taking too clear to clear and Alexis Sanchez closes him down - the block goes behind for a goal-kick. 

Sanchez has had a hand in 25 goals in his past 25 league games for Arsenal (18 goals and seven assists). You don't take any chances around the Chilean. 

Image source, AP

Danny Murphy
Former England midfielder on Football Focus

Image source, Rex Features

Sanchez is looking around the Premier League and seeing what people are earning and I think Arsenal have to get to £200,000, £250,000 - they have got to get there or he will go.

He mixes his game up well, he’s a talented player. He’s got all the abilities to be a number nine but if you need to switch him he can do that. He’s magical.

Loose from Charlie Adam but Alexis Sanchez can't do anything with his shot as it goes harmlessly across the goal. Stoke then break and Xherdan Shaqiri has an opening in the area but he dillies and dallies, Erik Pieters eventually gets a shot off but it's harmlessly wide.

A breathless start. 

Image source, Getty Images

What a strike from Marc Muniesa - absolutely superb technique from 30 yards but his left-foot volley just skims the crossbar with Petr Cech at full stretch. Bright start from the visitors.

Image source, Getty Images

Headed behind and another one coming up...

Stoke the first side to threaten, Marko Arnautovic winning an early corner...

Arsenal get us going...

Mark Lawrenson
BBC Sport

Stoke are on a decent run and have got themselves in a really comfortable position in the top half of the table.

I don't see them causing Arsenal too many problems at Emirates Stadium, though, and I think Alexis Sanchez will find a way through - again.

Prediction: 2-0

Lawro's full predictions v singer Robbie Williams

• Think you can do better than Lawro? Predict the score for this match and the rest of this round's Premier League fixtures in our Predictor game

Incidentally, Robbie Williams, who predicted a 3-1 win for Arsenal, is a Port Vale fan but says he likes to see Stoke do well.

Terry Butcher
Ex-England captain at the Emirates for BBC 5 Live

Stoke have more confidence, but they always get beat here. They last won a game against Arsenal in 1981 when Lee Chapman scored. That was at Highbury. They must have seen the fixture and thought bad memories, but they are playing better.

Over the last last six games who had more points? You would say Arsenal, but it is Stoke by a point, so they are doing well. They have more confidence, score more goals, tougher to beat. They have improved.

Mark Hughes done a terrific job there. Teams that come up from the Championship must look at Stoke and think that is what we want to be.

The players are coming out. Gloomy, brooding skies above in this unseasonably mild weather. 

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Stoke boss Mark Hughes: "In the past as a club we've struggled to get results at places like Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge but we've been able to do that in recent times.

"This is the only one left standing so it would be great to get it out of the way. Our recent form is good and we're in good heart so confidence is high, that is huge in football, so we'll be able to benefit from that.

"It's up to us to restrict them to minimal chances and make sure we're creating chances when going the other way."

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger: "You can assess the Premier League as very open and very interesting. December is a very important month and for us even more because we have some big games.

"Stoke is another challenge for us [to show] that we can reset, refocus and continue our development and take the points."

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Rex Features

Stoke, having started the season so slowly, have really upped their game in recent weeks.

In their run of losing only one in nine (winning five of them), the Potters have let in a mere five goals - and those nine games coincide (or not) with goalkeeper Lee Grant coming into the team.

The 1-0 defeat by Bournemouth on 19 November was very much an aberration.

Can they overturn history and keep it coming this afternoon?

The last time Stoke did anything other than lose at Arsenal? August 1981, when Lee Chapman scored the only goal at Highbury. 

The observant (and older) amongst you may have noticed that the player pictured below is the considerably-shorter-than-Chapman Adrian Heath. However, it's the only pic available from the game in question so it'll just have to do...

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

While all should be rosy in the Arsenal garden with West Ham and Basel both torn apart on away trips, there is a nagging worry over the future of two of their most creative forces, Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil.

Both their contracts run out in 2018 and, reportedly, they would like a heck of a lot more dosh to sign a new deal. We're talking Paul Pogba-like levels of remuneration, apparently. 

“I can’t give any assurances. Eighteen months is a long time in football," Wenger warned yesterday.

“What is important is always to take care of the values of the club and not to depend too much on one or two players.

“They will stay for 18 months and, hopefully, much longer. We will try to extend

“We live in a world where Sanchez and Ozil have a lot of money and choose where they play."

John Motson
Match of the Day commentator

Image source, AP

What a week so far for Arsenal. Five goals at West Ham and another four in Basel to top their Champions League group for the first time since 2011.

Arsenal are well placed in the league - will they push on and show us they are the real deal, or flounder and reveal familiar fragilities?

They have a fantastic home record against Stoke but the much-improved Potters will be no pushover.

Mark Hughes' men have lost just one of their last nine and have not conceded more than one goal in any of those games.

The recent switch to 3-4-3, external suits talented pair Marko Arnautovic and Xherdan Shaqiri (below), who will be very dangerous if Stoke are given chances on the counter-attack.

Image source, Getty Images

Arsenal make six changes from the side that beat FC Basel 4-1 in the Champions League on Wednesday. 

In come Petr Cech, Nacho Monreal, Shkodran Mustafi, Francis Coquelin, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Dropping out are David Ospina, Rob Holding, Kieran Gibbs, Aaron Ramsey, Lucas Perez and Alex Iwobi.  

Arsenal XI: Cech, Gabriel, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Xhaka, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ozil, Sanchez.

Image source, .

Just one change for Stoke from their 2-0 win over Burnley last weekend as Joe Allen comes in for Jonathan Walters.

Stoke XI: Grant; Johnson, M.Indi, Muniesa; Diouf, Adam, Imbula, Pieters; Shaqiri, Allen, Arnautovic

Image source, .