Stoke v Arsenal: Arsene Wenger's starting 11 (Gibbs and Arshavin start)

Aaron Ramsey starts for Arsenal this afternoon at the Britannia, 15 months after he had his leg broken by Ryan Shawcross at the same venue.

Arsene Wenger makes two changes from the side which beat Manchester United. Gael Clichy failed a late fitness test and is replaced by Kieran Gibbs. Whilst Andrey Arshavin comes in for the injured Samir Nasri.

Johan Djourou takes his place in the starting line up after recovering from an ankle injury.

Wenger brings Thomas Vermaelen into the squad and the Belgium defender takes a place on the bench, his first involvement with the Arsenal first team since August.

The starting 11 is:

Szczesny

Sagna - Djourou - Koscielny - Gibbs

Song - Wilshere

Walcott - Ramsey - Arshavin

van Persie

Subs: Lehmann, Eboue, Vermaelen, Squillaci, Rosicky, Bendtner, Chamakh.

Follow Ashburton Grove on Twitter, chatting Arsenal throughout the day. To receive the blog everyday you can subscribe via e-mail or take the RSS feed to your favourite reader.