Well that was an anti-climax.

Earlier today, I predicted Chelsea would win 2-1 and I wasn’t a million miles away.

I was looking forward to tonight’s game, but knew the importance of the match would be overshadowed by far more important fixtures against Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund and Manchester United in the coming weeks.

On paper though, Arsene Wenger looked to have played a pretty strong side. It included Koscielny, Wilshere, Ramsey, Cazorla and Rosicky, and Özil and Giroud were on the bench if required.

There was a lot of sparring in the first quarter of the game but the moment that changed the game came on 25 minutes. A high ball was headed back by Jenkinson which didn’t have enough purchase, and Azpilicueta popped in to score a well-taken goal.

After that, as expected, Chelsea parked the bus. They do it so well and we found it difficult to test Mark Schwarzer in goal. We had a lot of possession but couldn’t break down a resilient Chelsea side who are well drilled defensively and showed how they won the Champions League a couple of seasons ago.

Chelsea were comfortable and we had no ideas. Nicklas Bendtner was poor, and Jenkinson’s confidence was shot as soon as he made that mistake.

In the end, it’s annoying that we lost to the biggest cunt in football but hey, that’s all it is. It isn’t the end of the world, it isn’t the end of our season and we can quickly dust ourselves off and get ourselves prepared for the big game on Saturday.

Before the game, every man and their dog thought that Arsenal would cruise it against Crystal Palace. The Eagles were supposedly in disarray after Ian Holloway left his position as Palace manager, and second to bottom of the Premier League. Arsenal however were top of the league, two points clear of Chelsea and Liverpool, and 8 clear of reigning champions Manchester United.

And while Arsenal started the game with the majority of possession, they found it difficult to find a way through a well-organised and resolute Crystal Palace side. Even with a high-profile midfield of Mathieu Flamini, Mikel Arteta, Mesut Özil, Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey, we couldn’t really fashion any real clear cut chances in the first half. The Palace side were so deep we found it hard to find any space in behind and looked short of ideas.

If anything, Crystal Palace had the better chances on the break, the best of which fell to Bannan who had a free header go over the bar. They also had a couple of long range efforts which went straight at Szczesny.

The game was level at half time and on reflection, it was a fair scoreline going into the half time break. But if Arsenal struggled to test Speroni in the Crystal Palace goal, they got a slice of luck as Guédioura foolishly took out Serge Gnabry and gifted Arsenal a penalty only 2 minutes into the second half. Mikel Arteta stepped up and coolly finished from the spot, converting 5 from his last 6 penalty kicks.

The game opened up as you would expect but on 65 minutes, Crystal Palace had a bit of luck when Mikel Arteta was sent off for taking down Arsenal favourite Marouane Chamakh 40 yards from goal. The former Arsenal striker was in a foot race with Mikel Arteta and while technically the Spaniard was the last man, they were both 40 yards away from goal. Was it a clear goalscoring opportunity? Hardly. Was it a red card? Well “expert pundit” Michael Owen firmly believed it was a red card but I think it was a harsh decision. Chamakh still had a hell of a lot of work to do from there to carve out a clear chance and we had Ramsey and Koscielny chasing back. And replays showed that if anything, Chamakh moved into Arteta and brought the Arsenal midfielder down. So for me, it was a harsh decision.

From then on, as you would expect, Crystal Palace went for it and in the space of two minutes they forced two world class saves from Szczesny. The first was from a long range effort from Joel Ward, and then from a superb volley from Mile Jedinak. They were really fantastic saves and at 1-0, were hugely important.

For about 15 minutes after the sending off, Arsenal were panicking and couldn’t keep the ball. Crystal Palace pressed well and we unfortunate to make that pressure count. Arsenal strangely seemed to be knocked out of their stride and couldn’t string two passes together. In the last 8 minutes however, Arsenal seemed to get their composure back and after some great play by Ramsey, he lofted a delighted cross for Giroud who scored a well-deserved goal to kill off the game.

So in the end, a well fought 3 points which was vital going into league games against Liverpool and Manchester United in the next couple of weeks.

Szczesny was excellent in goal, and the back four were solid. Arteta was okay until he was sent off, and Ramsey was industrious as ever. Gnabry looked bright when he came on for the injured Flamini and Olivier Giroud was excellent up front. He gave absolutely everything and you could see how exhausted he was at the end of the game – and he totally deserved his goal.

Santi Cazorla and Mesut Özit however were poor today. Santi’s passing range was well off and it was surprising to see him execute so many misplaced passes. Özil couldn’t get into the game and it was his sloppy pass (which came from a poor Özil cross) which lead to Arteta’s sending off. There’s no doubt he is a world class talent but today he looked nowhere near like a £42.3 million signing. His lackadaisical play today could have cost Arsenal points.

I haven’t seen any of the Liverpool v West Bromwich Albion or Manchester United v Stoke City games, but followed the games on Sky Sports News. Liverpool look like a completely different beast this season and Luis Suarez scored a (reportedly) exceptional hattrick and Daniel Strurridge also scored a top class goal. West Brom have been excellent this season (beating Manchester United at Old Trafford and earning a draw against us this year) so for Liverpool to sweep them aside with ease is ominous. They have looked very good whenever I’ve seen them play and they are genuine title challengers for me.

Manchester United were losing 2-1 to Stoke City with 78 minutes played, until Wayne Rooney and Hernandez stepped up and stole a late win at Old Trafford. As I was following the game, I just knew Stoke would fold (it is a Mark Hughes team after all) and with odds of 9/2 for United to win with 15 minutes left I put on a fiver to win a tidy £27.50. My only regret was I didn’t put more on it. It will be interesting to see on Match of the Day tonight how United played and if they were lucky to take all three points. I’ve never rated David Moyes and I just wonder if teams are no longer afraid of taking the game to them any more. Alex Ferguson had this power over other Premier League teams, where they would come to Old Trafford and park the bus. Teams aren’t doing this any more and hopefully, this will continue.

Arsenal have been excellent this season and before last nights game, our only defeat was against Aston Villa on the opening day of the season. Unfortunately for us, Dortmund got the rub of the green and did just enough to beat Arsenal by two goals to one.

Before the game and with the run we’ve been on, for me a defeat against Dortmund wouldn’t have been the end of the world. And even the day after, it still isn’t. We’ve been really excellent this season and two defeats in 14 games is nothing to be ashamed of. We’re still top of the Premier League, top of our Champions League group and in a better position this season so far than any Arsenal fan could have imagined this summer.

Arsenal have been playing some really exhilarating football this season, and the goal by Jack Wilshere against Norwich at the weekend summed up our season – great football, huge confidence and a mental toughness in the squad we haven’t seen in a lot time. But last night, we looked a little jaded.

We beat Napoli with high intensity football a few weeks ago but we couldn’t reach those height last night. We looked a little tired at times and it’s worth remembering this is the team (minus Gotze) that reached the Champions League final last season. If anything, we showed a little naivety in the closing stages and got hit with a sucker punch when we probably should have seen out a draw.

But by the same token if Arsenal didn’t go for the win then would it have been the same Arsenal? We’ve scored late winners before and one thing we all love about Arsenal is they never give up and always fight until the last second.

The problem I thought we had was the absence of Mathieu Flamini. Without him we lose some bite in midfield, and he has been one of our most important players this season. We’ve been playing some sintilating football this season, scored a lot of special goals but every team needs that enforcer in midfield to organise the team and we missed his endeavour and defensive prowess. His energy also sets the tempo for Arsenal to launch their attacks.

Mikel Arteta is a very good player but I’m not sure he is best in the defensive midfield position. Flamini has more pace and releases the ball quicker to the creative midfielders such as Ramsey, Wilshere and Rosicky.

We have a lot of options in the attacking midfield areas – Ramsey, Rosicky, Wilshere, Cazorla and Oxlade-Chamberlain, but in defensive midfield we really only have Flamini – Arteta is better in a more advanced position. I’m not sure how long Flamini is out for, but he is a player we desperately need back.

Arsenal (3) – (1) Stoke City
Ramsey 5′, Mertesacker 36′, Sagna 73′
The Emirates Stadium, London
Barclays Premier League

Today’s game against Stoke City marked the home debut of record signing of Mesut Özil, and boy didn’t he show us what he brings to the side.

Much has been made of Arsene Wenger’s summer transfer policy which has seen Yaya Sanogo, Mathieu Flamini, Emiliano Viviano and Mesut Özil join the club. Some supporters have said that we really needed another striker, either a player who is more clinical than Olivier Giroud or at least someone as cover if the big Frenchman gets injured.

With Lukas Podolski injured and Nicklas Bendtner our only backup, that would seem to be a valid argument. But in his 79 minute performance, Mesut Özil showed exactly why he was brought to the club.

His performance wasn’t a massive one, one where he dominated the game from start to finish. But what he did show was his class and more importantly, how he can fire this team to the heights of competing for the Premier League title.

He played just under 80 minutes and assisted all 3 Arsenal goals. The first from a freekick, which was saved and Ramsey scored the rebound. Then he floated in a corner for Per Mertesacker to score a tidy back header and Bacary Sagna scored the third Arsenal goal with a looping header from another Özil freekick.

While Giroud will be given the responsibility to score the majority of goals this season, Özil has shown that he can make things happen and help setup goals for any member of the team.

And that is a valuable asset to have. He will no doubt create many opportunities over the season for Giroud but making chances for other players in the team is just as, if not more important. You will remember his clever back heel pass for Gibbs against Marseille midweek – giving any player in the team a chance to score improves our team no end.

Stoke were solid as they usually are, putting their boot in as you would expect. But Arsenal mixed it up and showed they can score goals from set-pieces. With Özil orchestrating the corners and freekicks we have another string to our bow. Theo used to take that responsibility and did a decent job but with Özil taking the set-pieces we have that extra threat in the attacking third.

We’ve seen games like this in the past end in frustrating draws or even worse, defeats. We struggled to make any clear chances from open play but with the outstanding quality of Özil from freekicks and corners we didn’t have to.

As it stands, Arsenal top the league after 5 Premier League games, and by two points to boot (this was written before the Cardiff v Tottenham game, which we can all hope they lose). And who would have thought that was even possible after the home game against Aston Villa?

Player Ratings:

Wojciech Szczesny: 6/10
Wasn’t needed to make any massive saves but did well well called upon. Was left exposed by the defence for the goal and didn’t have much chance with that.

Bacary Sagna: 7/10
Very solid defensively and did well in the attacking third as well. Scored with a brilliant looping header which killed the game and secured all 3 points.

Laurent Koscielny: 7/10
Made some excellent interceptions and coped well with Jones and limited his threat throughout the game. “Almost” scored from the Mertesacker header but succeeded in putting off Begovic enough for Arsenal to take the lead.

Per Mertesacker: 8/10
Real captains performance and was solid for the whole game. Organised the defence well and was a threat from set-pieces. Was unlucky from his first header from a corner but scored with his second chance and that gave Arsenal a valuable lead.

Kieran Gibbs: 6/10
Was solid and kept Nzonzi relatively quiet. Made some good crossed early on and linked up well with Wilshere and Özil on the left.

Mathieu Flamini: 8/10
Outstanding and made some excellent and vital interceptions. Full of running, positionally sound and made some great tackles. In a game which was tight, Flamini kept the threat from Stoke at bay. Never shy to organise the team and becoming a massive player for Arsenal.

Jack WIlshere: 6/10
Struggled at times with the physicality of Stoke’s midfield and couldn’t get his passing going for large spells. Seemed off the pace at times and should have done better with a lay off to Giroud in the first half.

Aaron Ramsey: 7/10
Was all over the pitch and linked the midfield and attack really well. Fed in Özil whenever he could and once again, was in the right place and the right time for his goal and took it with supreme confidence. The man bang in form at the moment.

Serge Gnabry: 7/10
Came in for Theo Walcott who was ill but was excellent I thought. Not phased one bit making his only second Premier League appearance in an Arsenal shirt but held the ball well, made the right passes and coped well with the physical Stoke approach.

Mesut Özil: 8/10
Made his home debut under a massive weight of expectation and didn’t disappoint. Linked play well and while he didn’t take hold of the game or dominate it like some expected, made 3 goals for the team. The assist master lived up to his reputation.

Olivier Giroud: 7/10
Found it difficult against the physical Robert Huth and the massive cunt that is Ryan Shawcunt but did well overall. Won several freekicks and won a few of the phyiscal duels when asked. Had a couple of half chances but didn’t really have a clear chance to score. But a solid performance from the front man.