Stoke 3-2 Arsenal: Crouch continues his Arsenal hoodoo as super Stoke hold off 10-man Gunners

When Arsene Wenger trudged down the dressing-room tunnel at half-time, he looked like a man who was entering the sunset of a distinguished career. Arsenal were three goals down, their fans were numb and silent and the Stoke hordes were gloating fit to burst.

Forty-five minutes later, with his side falling just a stride short of an extraordinary recovery, the manager’s head was higher. Yet he knew he had suffered a deeply damaging result. To make his mood still worse, he must have known that the score flattered Arsenal; that their recovery owed more to happy chance than to an urgent search for self-respect.

Wenger delayed public criticism of his own team, initially offering a relatively tepid: ‘In every single game, you have to be committed and focused from the first moment.’ Later, his reaction was more scathing.