by David Gould

FOR the second home game in a row, we've faced opponents best described as "limited".

To be fair, Sunderland weren't as shambolic as the pre-'Arry Spurs – they just looked jaded.

Still, once again, Stoke had to beat what was before them, and in the end we accomplished this quite comfortably.

The first half of Wednesday's game was the least entertaining 45 minutes I've witnessed this season.

At half-time this – and the fact Block 19 of the Boothen End felt like Ice Station Zebra – had begun to make me wonder whether I would have been better off staying in to watch the final of The Restaurant on BBC2 (featuring the wonderful Westlands girl, Sarah Willingham, of course).

Fortunately, on the resumption the Potters quickly made me come to my senses. While Sunderland remained lacklustre (both on and off the pitch) Stoke put them under relentless pressure, and as against Tottenham could have racked up at least a couple more goals.

Perhaps most encouraging was the way we kept at them once we'd gone into the lead, instead of just dropping back and hanging on for dear life. This is obviously a team capable of learning from its mistakes. Almost as satisfying as seeing El-Hadji Diouf (the most annoying footballer on the planet) growing increasingly distraught as the evening wore on was the ease with which the Potters closed out the game. Apart from Thomas Sorensen's fine save from Kenwyne Jones near the end, our goal was never threatened.

So now for Arsenal. They will presumably be a very different kettle de poissons, especially after throwing away a two-goal lead in the final minutes of Wednesday's match against their nearest and dearest. Arsene Wenger has never come across as a teacup-chucker, but it's fair to assume the Professor will have pointed out a few home truths to his students after Wednesday's game.

Personally I'm half-excited, half-terrified by the prospect of seeing Theo Gump ("Run, Theo, run!") tearing at our defence and thumping the ball into the net, before overshooting and ending up in the welcoming arms of the Boothen End… hopefully for everybody's sakes that won't happen, but if Arsenal do turn on their passing game then we could be in for a busy afternoon.

I've been really proud of the boys have performed so far this season. We've never been humiliated and all thoughts of 'doing a Derby' now seem ridiculous.

And yet… logic still suggests that at some point we're going to get absolutely whacked by somebody, and I fear that this could come tomorrow against the Gunners. So come on lads – go out there and prove me wrong!