We know what has to be done today – win.

With City and Chelsea meeting in just a few minutes there is a chance Chelsea could drop a point or two, if this happens we have to capitalise, if it doesn’t we need to keep snapping at their heels like an angry Pacman.

Stoke have no surprise up their sleeve, we know how they will play and it is the third time we have faced them this season. We won at home and lost away in the FA Cup, losing there last season as well means our record at the Brittania is shocking. Stoke are a team that we should beat every single time, no disrespect intended.

As it happens they are in very decent form, not losing since December and beating Man City midweek – hopefully we can put a spanner in the works and neutralise’s their most valuable and publicised weapon, Rory Delap. The way he gets built up in the press would have you believe he is a potent mixture of Ronaldo, Kaka with a sprinkling of Pele too, when in fact all he does is throw the ball a long way. Its a throw in, not a super-human capability.

As Arseblogger was saying in the Arsecast yesterday – just stand someone in front of him, he is flouting the rules wiping the ball down with a towel anyway.

William Gallas missing the game could be a blessing just this once because it means Sol Campbell will partner Thomas Vermaelen in defence and they are both good in the air, hopefully they can shore up the defence and mean the possibility of having a shaky keeper behind them won’t be so important.

You get the feeling that the first goal will be key in this game, its what undid us last time and we were always chasing the game. Hopefully Bendtner does some damage up front and I’m tipping him to score today. In midfield its important we assert our authority, we can’t match Stoke in stature but with some clever play we can drag them all over the place and if they go behind they should start feeling the game from Wednesday night, this is a game we must, and can win.

It feels like people are scared of Stoke but there is no reason to be, we should win games like this and we won’t win the title if we can’t. I think we will win today, two or three goals to one.

I’m gonna miss the game again through work, hopefully I can catch the highlights. Blehh, I hate missing matches.

Til tomorrow.