That Rory Delap eschewed negotiating a bonus for goal assists may save Stoke City a small fortune. The midfield player has created seven of the 13 goals that have lifted Tony Pulis’s team to twelfth place in the Barclays Premier League with his gargantuan throw-ins. But he must be fairly wealthy anyway; he goes home to practise his technique with his three children in their back garden. Must be a pretty big garden.

While Arsenal will be chastised for losing to another side fresh out of the Coca-Cola Championship, after Hull City’s victory at the Emirates Stadium, Delap said that he had no idea how a team should defend his throw-ins. Possessing a sufficient proportion of players willing to head the ball would be a start. But Stoke’s organisation and pressing game gave them the platform for Delap to launch the two missiles from which Ricardo Fuller and Seyi Olofinjana scored and the outcome was as much down to which team imposed their will over the other as it was to any 40-metre throw-ins. Stoke had players queueing up to be heroes; Arsenal had players queueing up to be substituted.

Thomas Sorensen claimed that Arsenal’s spineless performance has cost them the chance of competing for the title. With the visit of Manchester United at lunchtime on Saturday a game that Arsène Wenger’s team cannot afford to lose, the Stoke goalkeeper argued that Arsenal are too soft compared with the rest of the top four. “I expected much more of them,” Sorensen said. “They have those excellent players, and movement, but they didn’t find the fifth gear they normally do. Once we got the second goal, it felt like we were cruising. They totally lost belief.

“With the way the other [top] teams are playing, it’s going to be really hard for them [to win the title]. They have showed in the past they are a fantastic football side but they are just lacking that bit of physicality. When Chelsea came here [and won 2-0], they matched us in the challenges, whereas Arsenal weren’t quite there. That’s the difference: they lack that bit of spine you need. They want to play all the time and sometimes you have to work hard and earn that opportunity to play your football.”

As the loudest crowd in the Premier League raised the atmosphere to almost tribal levels, Sorensen admitted that he played on Robin van Persie’s temperament to draw the foul that led to a red card for the Holland player. “I was teasing him a bit and you could see in his eyes he was going to go for it,” the former Aston Villa goalkeeper said. “I could see the frustration and I used that.”

If Van Persie finally showed some fight, albeit of the misguided variety, Arsenal looked beaten before they started. It was almost as if they expected the worst, as if the hype surrounding Stoke’s style inhibited them, especially after the draining effects of their collapse against Tottenham Hotspur in the 4-4 draw on Wednesday. The first time Delap dried off the ball on his shirt – which was almost the first time Stoke gained possession – the Arsenal defence backed off in trepidation, Manuel Almunia stayed on his line and Fuller jostled with Kolo Touré to touch home the 44.8metre throw for his fifth goal of the season. It was a combination that proved enough to beat Sunderland three days previously and Stoke sensed another victory.

They simply got themselves into positions when possession was lost, allowed Arsenal to pass the ball about in front of them and seldom dived in.

It took Arsenal 25 minutes to muster a shot on target, Sorensen saving from Emmanuel Adebayor’s effort on the turn, and they failed to pass with sufficient zip to trouble Stoke. They needed the additional zest of Theo Walcott and Van Persie but by the time the substitutes were introduced, Arsenal had started dropping.

At one stage early in the second half, both Bacary Sagna, who hurt an ankle in a clean tackle by Delap, and Adebayor, who damaged his when Ryan Shawcross connected with the ball then the man, were on the turf. It appeared some admission on Wenger’s part when Touré, recalled with William Gallas injured, was switched to right back but the Ivory Coast defender almost equalised when he volleyed Cesc Fàbregas’s corner just over the crossbar.

Where Arsenal sought leaders, they found volunteers for the early bath. Adebayor limped off, Van Persie was sent off, for the hot-headed lunge to which Sorensen overreacted, and Walcott was carried off, falling awkwardly after being tripped by Delap and damaging a shoulder. “I’m just glad the injury isn’t as bad as it first looked,” Delap said upon hearing there was no dislocation. “Theo’s a good lad.”

By that stage, Stoke were two goals to the good after Olofinjana was allowed to chest then head Shawcross’s flick-on through Almunia’s legs with the Arsenal braves nowhere to be seen. Gaël Clichy scored in the fourth minute of added time with a deflected shot, but by then Arsenal, having used all their substitutes, were down to nine men. They could not wait to get off the field.

Mark of Respect - 7/10

Bit of a red-letter day: Rob Styles got nearly all the big decisions right. Arsène Wenger believed that Robin van Persie’s red card was harsh but at least that was postmatch.

Stoke (4-4-2): T Sorensen 6 A Griffin 7 R Shawcross 7 Abdoulaye Faye 7 D Higginbotham 7 S Olofinjana 7 S Diao 6 Amdy Faye 6 R Delap 8 M Sidibe 6 R Fuller 7 Substitutes: G Whelan (for Diao, 78min); R Cresswell (for Fuller, 86); D Kitson (for Sidibe, 90). Not used: S Simonsen, T Soares, A Wilkinson, I Sonko. Next: Wigan (a).

Arsenal (4-4-2): M Almunia 4 B Sagna 4 K Touré 5 M Silvestre 4 G Clichy 5 Denilson 5 F Fàbregas 6 A Song 4 A Diaby 4 E Adebayor 4 N Bendtner 4 Substitutes: R van Persie (for Denilson, 65min); T Walcott 7 (for Sagna, 58); C Vela (for Adebayor, 73). Not used: L Fabianski, S Nasri, A Ramsey, J Djourou. Next: Man Utd (h).

Referee R Styles Attendance 26,704