In recent weeks, Arsenal have been looking like the Arsenal of old. A win at the Reebok Stadium and then a tremendous fight-back at home to Bolton indicated that Arsene Wenger’s team had rediscovered their backbone.

Arsenal definitely had a weakened team out, so it is not as if it was a major upset but when it has been so long since their last triumph, Gooners fans will be disappointed at their Britannia Stadium exit.

Ricardo Fuller was quick off the block to fire the home side into a 2nd minute lead, with Rory Delap’s long throw striking fear into the Arsenal defence.

Arsenal play some amazing flowing football but they remain massively vulnerable when put under any amount of pressure and their failure to deal with this tactic saw them chasing the game from the start.

Stoke will consider themselves unlucky not have earned a penalty for a foul on Fuller, which Arsene Wenger may find ironic after his annoyance about his side not getting penalties and before half-time, Arsenal got themselves back on level terms.

Denilson’s shot was deflected home and Arsenal may have thought that much like the last round against West Ham, they would come from behind against Premier opposition.

Wenger brought on Eduardo and Ramsey in a double substitution in an attempt to win the tie but it seemed to galvanise Stoke City further and it wasn’t long before the home side struck again.

With 12 minutes to go, Ricardo Fuller was on hand to convert Sidibe’s cross and their passage was secured when Dean Whitehead calmly finished the tie.

Arsenal can now focus on their league push with games against all their major rivals in the next few weeks but this defeat will be a let down.

With Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal out, is the FA Cup open for a surprise winner?

How far can Stoke City go in the FA Cup?

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It wasn’t quite the game of two halves that pundits to love to talk about but Stoke City nearly undid all of their hard work.

In the first half, Stoke City, the team who couldn’t buy a goal recently, struck three teams and were unlucky not to get more.

The first two goals may have came from set-pieces which may have some folk saying “typical Stoke” but the third goal was very well worked.

A flowing move down the left hand side, including a number of one-touch passes saw the ball worked into the box where a backwards head flick released Sidibe in the centre of the penalty box.

The ball was fired into the ground and it bounced it over the despairing dive of Mark Schwarzer.

Stoke scored more goals in the first half of this match than they had in their previous six matches, so it has definitely been a happy new year for Tony Pullis and his team.

However, the loss of Tuncay with a hamstring injury before half-time would have put a slight dampener on the joyous atmosphere that was reverberating around the Britannia Stadium.

Things were to get colder in the second when a deflected Damien Duff shot gave Fulham hope but it was a stunning Clint Dempsey strike that really got the game going.

At 3-2, it could have went either but Fulham, for all their pressing, couldn’t get the third goal which would have broken Stoke hearts.

Stoke are now tenth in the league but remain a few games away from the relegation zone. It is a crazy season in the English Premier League this year.

Can Stoke use this win as a springboard?

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Given that Stoke City managed to beat the big freeze and get their game versus Fulham on, it is only fitting that they scored the first English Premier League goal of 2010.

They had the ball in the net within the first two minutes but their joy was shortlived as this was chopped off.

They weren’t to be denied though, even though Danny Murphy had a free kick driven just wide before Stoke opened the scoring.

It will not be a surprise to see that Stoke scored through a set-piece and they won two great headers in the box to take the lead.

Robert Huth rose higher than all on the six yard box to send the ball spinning goalwards where Tuncay drove it past Mark Schwarzer. The Sky TV commentator thought that Huth may have scored it but Tuncay definitely got an important header on it. In fact, the ball may have drifted wide until the Turkish internationalist intervened.

Stoke are only a few points off of the relegation zone so a win is essential, although 3 points would see them into the top half of the league. It is very congested at the bottom of the English Premier League so all points are vital.

There is still a long way to go of this way game but Stoke hold a 1-0 lead thanks to the first English Premier League goal of the year.

Can Stoke rise up the table?

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