Arsenal roughed up by Stoke goal hero Fuller

Ricardo Fuller was the scourge of Arsenal as Stoke finally ended their long wait for an FA Cup triumph over the Gunners with a 3-1 win in the fourth round on Sunday.

Fuller scored twice to punish Wenger’s decision to field an inexperienced side at the Britannia Stadium and hand the Potters their first victory over Arsenal in this competition in eight attempts, stretching back to 1928.

Jamaican forward Fuller took only 70 seconds to stun the visitors and although Denilson levelled, the Stoke star nodded in a 78th minute goal to guide Tony Pulis’s men through to the fifth round, with Dean Whitehead’s late third completing a memorable day.

The last meeting of these side at the Britannia a little over a year ago was something of a shock to Arsenal as Stoke bloodied their noses with a 2-1 defeat.

While last season’s bruising encounter created controversy, Stoke supporters of an older persuasion are probably still harbouring the painful memories of 1971 and 1972 when Arsenal beat them in successive FA Cup semi-finals.

Wenger has made no secret of his need to lift some silverware, after five years without a trophy, but his team selection was very similar to a youth team, with out captain Cesc Fabregas and Denilson surviving from the side that beat Bolton on Wednesday.

Jay Emmanuel-Thomas made his debut, while Francis Coquelin, Carlos Vela and Craig Eastmond were among the youngsters thrown into the starting line-up.

And hardly a minute had elapsed before the home side stunned an Arsenal defence including Sol Campbell, making his second debut for the club.

While Rory Delap’s gargantuan throws are no longer a surprise to anyone, Arsenal could not handle the first exocet. Lukasz Fabianski flapped and Fuller stole ahead of the Polish goalkeeper to find the net with a header.

That early setback clearly unruffled Arsenal and their first half performance was littered with stray passes and errors of judgement.

Stoke could have been awarded a penalty ten minutes before half-time when Fuller appeared to collapse under a desperate lunge from Mikael Silvestre.

But Arsenal finally levelled in the 42nd minute through Denilson. Fabregas played a free kick outside the box across to the Brazilian midfielder and he arrowed a low drive past Thomas Sorensen, with the aid of two deflections off Stoke defenders.

The second half saw Stoke dominant, with Fabianski under siege for most of the 45 minutes from an aerial bombardment.

Fabregas tested Sorensen with a long-range drive but Stoke pressed for a winner, with Coquelin almost turning Mamady Sidibe’s cross into his own net.

Wenger simply had to make changes and with 22 minutes remaining introduced Andrey Arshavin, Eduardo and Aaron Ramsey in a desperate bid to avoid a replay.

He did avoid one, though not in the way he wanted. Sidibe’s excellent work down the right ended in an inch perfect cross for Fuller to nod past a stranded Fabianski.

Visibily stunned, Arsenal’s exit from the FA Cup was confirmed when the excellent Etherington crossed for Whitehead to put the icing on the cake with his first goal for the club in the 86th minute.