The surprise area where Stoke were twice as prolific as Arsenal on Sunday

Whatever Arsene Wenger thought about the playing style on view at the Britannia on Sunday, surely this stat proves Stoke have changed.

With temperatures plummeting across the UK in recent days, Press Association Sport has carried out its 'Winter Warmers Survey'.

In other words, glovewatch.

Glove monitoring is a long-established means of assessing just how 'up for it', in the traditional sense, a Premier League team is.

Ordinarily, if a side leaves the dressing-room with any more than three of their number sporting gloves, it can be taken for granted that 'these don't like it up em'.

It didn't quite work out like that this weekend, with glovewatch table-toppers Manchester City routing Crystal Palace 4-0, though some will argue the inclusion of five glove wearers in the City ranks goes some way to explaining their inconsistency.

But perhaps the biggest surprise of the weekend came at Stoke on Sunday. The Potters – once well known for their old-fashioned approach - showed just how far they have come since the Tony Pulis days by sending out four players sporting gloves, whereas Pulis’ influence saw West Brom brave the cold weather as one of four clubs without a glove in sight.

And Arsene Wenger's men took to the field at the Britannia Stadium with just two pairs of gloves between them.

In total, there were 29 sets of gloves on display over the weekend.

The Glovewatch table:

1. Manchester City (at home to Crystal Palace), five pairs of gloves, temperature 1C

2. Stoke (at home to Arsenal), four pairs of gloves, temperature 1C

3. Everton (away at Chelsea), four pairs of gloves, temperature 5C

4. West Ham (away at Newcastle), three pairs of gloves and a beanie, temperature 2C

5. Arsenal (away at Stoke), two pairs of gloves, temperature 1C

6. Manchester United (away at Liverpool), two pairs of gloves, temperature 2C

7. Aston Villa (at home to Leicester), two pairs of gloves, temperature 3C

8. Crystal Palace (away at Manchester City), one pair of gloves, temperature 1C

9. Leicester (away at Aston Villa), one pair of gloves, temperature 3C

10= Southampton (at home to West Brom), one pair of gloves, temperature 4C

10= Norwich (away at Bournemouth), one pair of gloves, temperature 4C

12= Chelsea (at home to Everton), one pair of gloves, temperature 5C

12= Tottenham (at home to Sunderland), one pair of gloves, temperature 5C

12= Sunderland (away at Tottenham), one pair of gloves, temperature 5C

15= Liverpool (at home to Manchester United), no gloves, temperature 2C

15= Newcastle (at home to West Ham), no gloves, temperature 2C

17= Bournemouth (at home to Norwich), no gloves, temperature 4C

17= West Brom (away at Southampton), no gloves, temperature 4C

* Chelsea striker Diego Costa took off his woollies early in the draw with Everton