Stoke Fan View: 3 talking points ahead of the Arsenal clash

Will new boy Jesé make his first start in a Stoke shirt?

Anticipation is building amongst Stoke fans, as another former Champions League winner has entered the squad. Jesé has arrived with huge pressure as he aims to replicate the production of departing winger Marko Arnautovic.

The former Real Madrid youngster will be hoping to play to a level similar to that of when he was at Real, as since leaving Madrid he’s really struggled to find his feet. He hardly featured at PSG and struggled in his loan spell at Las Palmas but has been given the chance by Hughes to recreate his career.

He wouldn’t be the first player to do this with Stoke in recent years with the likes of Arnautovic, Shaqiri and Bojan coming to the potteries to recapture their form. So far it’s worked with some players liked Arnautovic who departed for a club record fee, Jesé will be hoping to follow suit.

Attack is our best approach to take.

If there is one thing we should’ve learnt from Arsenal’s game to Leicester, is that their defence is still incredibly weak. Monreal, Kolasinac and Holding at times looked very questionable in the positional sense, as they were obviously tactically unaware of the 3 back system.

Vardy and Mahrez in particular really put Arsenal on the back foot with their direct style of play and pace in behind. For this reason I think we should try and integrate Choupo-Moting and Jesé into the team as quickly as possible, and replicate Leicester’s approach of making them uncomfortable at all times.

It’s important we defend resolutely like against Everton.

Despite creating very little against Everton, our defence looked incredibly solid. Something that couldn’t be said for us based on the majority of last season. Kurt Zouma in particular played immense and with Indi coming in we’ve got great depth in that position.

It will be interesting to see if Hughes persists with the three back or whether he goes with a more attacking formation to compensate with playing at home, encouraging fans to get behind the team. However if that is the case and he plays four at the back, who does he play out of Shawcross, Indi and Zouma?

It’s a dilemma that you wouldn’t want to have as a manager so I do think he’ll try and play all three of them at all times, to avoid the problem of making one of them unhappy.