Striker ‘changed everything’

MOST of the post-match discussion was, understandably, about Robin van Persie, after the Dutchman’s double undid Stoke and helped Arsenal move up to seventh in the table.

Stoke looked comfortable enough before Van Persie scored twice soon after replacing Marouane Chamakh, and their manager Tony Pulis said: “We looked comfortable until he came on, but he changed the game.

“Asmir [Begovic] hardly had a shot to save before that, and we were relatively untroubled. But he changed everything.”