FA Cup: Stoke City 3-1 Arsenal

Two headers from Ricardo Fuller helped Stoke dump Arsenal out of the FA Cup, with the Gunners crashing to a 3-1 fourth-round defeat.

Arsene Wenger handed Sol Campbell his first start since rejoining the north Londoners but the veteran defender could not stop the visitors falling behind at the Britannia after only 70 seconds courtesy of Ricardo Fuller's header.

Denilson hauled the hosts level shortly before the break but a second header from Fuller and Dean Whitehead's late strike saw Stoke reach the fifth round.

The Gunners' were beaten by two goals from Rory Delap's long throws on their last visit to the Britannia Stadium, and Wenger's men clearly failed to learn their lesson from last season as with only a minute on the clock, the Premier League title challengers found themselves 1-0 down.

Delap unleashed his trademark delivery from midway inside the Gunners half and with Lukasz Fabianski slow to come off his line, Fuller stooped to head past the Polish keeper and into roof of the net.

The Gunners' start was sluggish, and Fuller was denied what looked like a clear penalty, when Mikael Silvestre's slide tackle in the box caught the striker, despite the best efforts of the Jamaican to stay on his feet.

Wenger's side gradually eased themselves into the affair and found themselves level on 42 minutes.

Glenn Whelan was penalised for handball on the corner of the penalty area and Fabregas rolled the ball into the path of Denilson, whose shot from the edge of the box found the net via a double deflection on the way through a crowded box.

Wenger introduced Andriy Arshavin, Eduardo and Aaron Ramsey in a triple substitution midway through the second period in a bid to avoid a replay, but it was the Potters who took the lead 12 minutes from time.

As Tony Pulis prepared a triple substitution of his own, Mama Sidibe escaped down the right-hand side and delivered an inch-perfect cross which enabled Fuller to escape the attentions of Campbell and nod home.

With Arsenal now desperate to take the tie to a second game, Stoke took advantage of gaps at the back to extend their lead and put the game beyond the visitors.

Matthew Etherington found the space on the left-side of the box to whip in a low cross that found Whitehead, who sidefooted home his first goal for the club and sealed the Potters' place in the last 16 after inflicting upon Arsenal their first defeat in ten games.