For those of you who aren’t football boot geeks like I am, you probably won’t know much about football boots or even notice what the players are wearing most of the time.

Mesut Özil used to be sponsored by Nike and at Real Madrid, wore the Nike Mercurials (I’ve even got a photograph of a signed pair I saw at the Real Madrid stadium tour a few years ago) but in the year he joined Arsenal, he joined Adidas and this season has been wearing the Adidas Ace 15 Primeknit. All you really need to know is that they cost in excess of £250 and are one of the premium models Adidas make (along with the Messi and X range).

Anyway, Adidas have released a brand new boot called the Ace 16+ Pure Control and Mesut Özil is the man who is pioneering the range as it were (along with other Adidas footballers no doubt) and the boot features “laceless technology” – basically meaning the boot has no laces to you and me.

Since the days of the Nike Tiempo Pro and the Adidas Predator range (proper football boots) which were more substantial and classic in my opinion, we are moving closer and closer to a sock-type football boot. Football boots are getting thinner and thinner and whereas most football boots were made of leather, they are now made of a fabric called Primeknit (Ace or X range by Adidas) or Flyknit (Magista Obra and Mercurial Superfly by Nike).

And that is a worry. The obsession with a lighter boot means footballers are more likely to get injured, simply because the material is very thin. Most modern (premium) boots are made from a sock-like material and that’s not great if you’re an attacking player who is likely to be the subject of tough tackles from defenders. I have a pair of Nike Mercurial Superfly’s and let me tell you, when someone comes in late and stands on your foot with their studs, it bloody hurts!

Don’t get me wrong, modern boots have their advantages but now Özil doesn’t have the laces area he is more likely to get injured, either from a late challenge or even worse, rolling over his ankle. With old boots you had something tough and that could support the foot / ankle, whereas these days you don’t have that.

Could I be paranoid? Let’s hope so!

A match against Stoke, for me anyway, is a battle of emotions.

After the shockingly horrendous incident where Aaron Ramsey had his leg broken, it is a fixture that riles me. Note how I don’t refer to it as an “accident” because it wasn’t that.

I don’t care what anyone says, the incident was reckless, disgusting and still angers me to this day. The way the Stoke fans, players and staff defended Ryan Shawcross made the incident even worse.

If you’ve played football at any level, then you know about intent on the pitch and there’s something called awareness for other players a responsibility to not injure others. Otherwise football would be like Street Fighter where players were flying in from all angles. When Shawcross flew in that that he knew full well that he was going to hurt someone. When you don’t have possession, football is about getting the ball back. So by his actions instead of me closing down a player and trying to win the ball it would be perfectly acceptable for me to fly in on someone who had their back against me and was shielding the ball? My defence then would obviously be that “but I was going for the ball”.

Of course that’s not acceptable.

But what is worse is the idiotic Stoke fans who somehow thought it would be acceptable (and funny no doubt) to mock Aaron Ramsey throughout every subsequent game.

I can understand some fans banter and I’m sure Arsenal fans are not completely innocent throughout the years, but the Stoke fans really take the biscuit.

I know what the Stoke fans chanted yesterday and it’s interesting to note that the behaviour of the supporters in the ground never gets media coverage. There’s a fear of isolating football clubs and tarnishing the games reputation – the chants Manchester United fans direct at Arsene Wenger also come to mind – but burying our heads in the sand is counter-productive.

Fortunately Arsenal fans can use social media to highlight these incidents but it still disgusts me how the Stoke fans “behave”.

And because of all that, it is a game with more significance that most other league fixtures.

It’s game where Arsenal fans badly want a win because it would “show Stoke”. And yesterday, it was another battle.

We were without Mesut Özil, which was a good thing because a player like him would probably get injured against a physical Stoke side. But without Özil we struggle creatively and chances were few and far between.

Olivier Giroud who has been on fire of late was denied a couple of times by Jack Butland who was in excellent form. Firstly from a header and then he came out quickly to deny Giroud when he was put through by Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Stoke had several decent chances too and Petr Cech, once again, was sensational.

Without Cech in goal Arsenal wouldn’t be title contenders, plain and simple, and we would be fifth in the table right now.

I can think of countless matches (Newcastle at home for instance) where he kept us in the game. It’s easy to highlight the influence of Alexis Sanchez, Olivier Giroud and Mesut Özil but Cech has for me, been our best player this season.

When I see the saves he makes, I can see Szczesny conceding those shots and the difference Cech makes is unreal. He has easily earned us 10 points this season already, which would put us in 7th place, below West Ham United.

I asked the Twittisphere yesterday whether Arsenal fans thought it was a good point or bad point against Stoke, and most fans replied it was a good point. And it’s hard to disagree. Stoke away is always a tricky fixture and perhaps it’s unrealistic to expect a win at their ground, and maybe leaving their with something is the most important thing.

We’re still top of the league (level on points with Leicester City) and we just need to keep looking forward and getting those points on the board.

So finally, the signing of midfielder Mohamed Elneny has been confirmed.

With the injuries to Jack Wilshere, Santi Cazorla, Francis Coquelin, Mikel Arteta (who has just come back), Tomas Rosicky and Abou Diaby (sorry, force of habit) then Arsenal needed extra numbers in midfield with only Mathieu Flamini and Aaron Ramsey as our recognised midfielders.

The Flamini / Ramsey axis has done well results-wise, but the performances have been less convincing. Aaron Ramsey has found his shooting boots again and while Mathieu Flamini has the hugely impressive record at The Emirates, having never lost there (I think the record stands at well over 50 games now).

But the matches have been there for all to see. Against Liverpool, Sunderland, Bournemouth and Newcastle, there have been large portions of the game where we’ve been overrun and the opposing team have had a lot of goalscoring opportunities and possession, with Cech saving us the vast majority of the time.

But the signing of Mohamed Elneny is a strange one. Arsene Wenger has never really used the January transfer window to strengthen an area Arsenal need strengthening. I think once we brought in Sol Campbell to help out our defence but all in all, we’ve had gaping holes in our squad due to injuries and we’ve just never strengthened.

How many times have we needed a central defender and not brought one in? I remember Arsenal signing Andrei Arshavin when we badly needed a centerback, and that is pretty much how Arsene Wenger has operated.

I’m not criticising the signing of Elneny, I’m just surprised Arsene has done it.

Arsene Wenger has always been of the opinion that we’ll just make do with we’ve got. We’ve got Flamini and Ramsey so I thought he would have persisted with that, and then ultimately get criticised by the Arsenal fans when one of them got injured and he didn’t sign a midfielder in January. But this season he’s changed.

And maybe that’s because he truly believes this is Arsenal’s year.

He is a highly intelligent man and must know that Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool won’t be having such bad seasons next year. Those clubs are all in transition and even Manchester City, who are at the top of the league alongside us, will be even stronger next season once they confirm the signing of Pep Guardiola.

The signing of Elneny is more than strengthening our midfield, it’s a signal of intent from the manager that he wants to go all out and try and win it this season.

Should Arsenal make another signing in January? That’s unlikely as Arsene will still want to make do with what he’s got or alternatively, recruit from within.

Central defence has to be a worry and in an ideal world, I’d like to see another defensive signing before the month is out.

That would really signal Arsenal’s intent for the rest of the season.

The draw against Liverpool last night was either encouraging or disappointing depending on your outlook, and it seemed to me that the goals we conceded were sloppy to say the least.

Petr Cech has been outstanding for us this season, easily earning Arsenal around 10 points already this season but last night he didn’t seem his reliable and dependable self.

The first goal Firmino scored was from a save that Petr Cech pushed into the path of the Liverpool striker. Was the initial shot from Emre Can that good that Cech couldn’t have pushed it wide and to safety? I’m not so sure.

The second goal from Firmino will be credited as a moment of class but was it impossible to save? Maybe I’m being harsh on Cech and have unrealistic expectations because of the fantastic form he’s been in this season but I thought he could have reached that.

Then the third goal in the last minute, scored by the famous Welsh Xavi (or Welsh Pirlo as he’s now known because of his wavy hair). Cech got down quick enough and got a hand to it but I thought he should have kept that out as well.

Maybe I’m disappointed at throwing 3 points away and being a bit harsh on Petr Cech, but I did feel he was below par yesterday.