Arsenal 2-0 Stoke
by Tashan Deniran-Alleyne
at Ashburton Grove

STOKE CITY manager Mark Hughes has tipped Jack Butland to have a bright future in the game following the young England goalkeeper’s excellent performance in the 2-0 defeat against Arsenal on Saturday afternoon.

If not for the heroics of the 22-year-old, the Potters would have been on the wrong end of a heavy scoreline in north London as he pulled off a number of fine stops to keep his side in the game until the final five minutes.

His best save came in the third minute as he superbly diverted an Alexis Sanchez header onto the post and he was on hand to tip over a long-range thunderbolt from Laurent Koscielny before denying the French defender again in the second half as well as Mesut Ozil and Theo Walcott.

Butland has been given the No 1 jersey this season following Asmir Begovic’s departure to Chelsea during the summer and Hughes believes Butland deserves the chance at the highest level after a host of loan spells in the lower divisions.

“He’s a confident young man, great maturity, very impressive and Jack has a calmness that I think will help him as he develops into the outstanding keeper we know he will be,” the Welshman said after the defeat against the Gunners.

“It’s fair to say he’s paid his dues, he’s been out on loan on a number of occasions and he’s played at a good level in the Championship.

“I’ve played him in Premier League games when Asmir was injured and brought him into the team at the end of last year because I knew there was a possibility that Asmir might leave as it’s panned out and we always felt we had a good keeper in the building.”

The Gunners did manage to beat Butland twice as Walcott and Olivier Giroud scored in either half to secure the club’s first home victory of the new season and also went someway to vindicating manager Arsene Wenger’s decision not to sign a new centre-forward in the summer.

The Frenchman was pleased to see both his strikers get on the scoresheet and will be hoping his side take confidence from their dominant performance at the weekend into the Champions League opener against Dinamo Zagreb.