Arsenal 2-0 Stoke City: Walcott & Giroud return to goalscoring form

Both Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud answered their critics with well-taken goals in Arsenal's comfortable 2-0 win over Stoke City at Emirates Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The Gunners laid siege to the visitors' goal in the opening exchanges, twice hitting the woodwork, and finally took the lead through Walcott on the half-hour mark, racing onto Mesut Ozil's excellent pass and sliding the ball under Jack Butland.

Butland remained in excellent form throughout the contest, thwarting the hosts on numerous occasions, but could not prevent substitute Giroud from nodding in Santi Cazorla's pin-point cross as the Gunners moved up to third place in the Premier League.