After Arsenal demolished Stoke 4-1 in May, the Potters’ manager Mark Hughes has spoken about how he hopes it goes differently this time.

Hughes was talking ahead of Arsenal’s trip to the bet365 Stadium on Saturday. In quotes reported by Vital Stoke, Hughes told the pre-match press conference: “Last time we had a game-plan, and an opportunity to really get at Arsenal, but we weren’t able to execute that plan for whatever reason. To be fair to Arsenal, they were very much the better side, but that was a different day and a different occasion.

“We are looking forward to tomorrow. We will certainly look to be positive, and we will look to get up and at them from the get-go!”

Arsenal should know by now what to expect from a visit to Stoke, and hopefully will be more than prepared for the Potters to ‘get up and at them’. New signing Sead Kolašinac always looks ready for a fight, and Alexandre Lacazette didn’t take long to get involved against Leicester, so they should both help.

Hughes then talked about the possibility of the involvement of Stoke’s new signings. The club have brought in a few new players, most notably loan transfers for Kurt Zouma and Jesé of Chelsea and PSG. When asked whether they would play any part in the match, the Stoke boss responded:

“We are hoping to involve all the guys we have signed this summer, some will be on the bench, others won`t. We are very excited by the group that we are assembling to be honest.”

The Welshman sees this fixture as an opportunity for Stoke to prove people wrong, considering that there has been a lot of negativity around the club. He said: “When people ask questions about us, we circle together and we stand strong and show people what we are about, so maybe Arsenal coming into town is a good thing for us.”

Arsenal fans will be hoping it isn’t. Stoke are always up for a match against the Gunners, but this hasn’t stopped Arsenal picking up four wins in the last five against the Potters, scoring more than two goals a game on average.

However, the fifth of those five games was a 0-0 draw, so against Stoke, you never know.