Stoke extinguished Arsenal's Premier League title dream with a deserved win at the Britannia Stadium. Kenwyne Jones bundled home a pinpoint free-kick by Jermaine Pennant who then capped a driving run with a shot that deflected off Johan Djourou. Robin van Persie struck from the edge of the box to give the Gunners hope but the visitors conceded two minutes later when Jonathan Walters slotted home. Arsenal, three points behind Chelsea, can still clinch second place. The north London side, who possess the best away record in the division, knew that nothing but a win would do if they were to keep alive their hopes of pulling off the unlikeliest of late title drives. Van Persie, so often their talisman on the road, came close to opening the scoring after only six minutes when he latched on to Aaron Ramsey's cute through ball, but fired over from 10 yards. Pennant caused a moment of indecision in the Arsenal defence when he hooked the ball wide from the edge of the box after visiting goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny could only half clear Rory Delap's awkward cross. Predictably, the Gunners were the more sophisticated side in possession, but Stoke's counter-attacking strategy had their opponents stretched on a number of occasions. So it was not entirely a surprise when the FA Cup finalists took the lead through Jones in the 28th minute. An off-colour Andrey Arshavin was guilty of conceding a needless free-kick when, rather than keeping Pennant in the corner, the Russian needlessly shoved the winger to the ground. Pennant whipped the resultant free-kick into the near post and Jones evaded the attention of Djourou to bundle home the simplest of finishes beyond the wrong-footed Szczesny. The visitors, unsettled by the goal, found themselves two behind five minutes before the break and it was Pennant, a menace to his former club all afternoon, who scored. Pennant forced Ramsey to surrender possession and ran at the back-peddling Bacary Sagna before unleashing a shot that took a significant deflection off Djourou's foot and looped over Szczesny. The Polish keeper got a hand to the ball and perhaps should have prevented it dipping under the crossbar. Walters almost added a third two minutes later when he hassled Sagna into an uncharacteristic error before curling an effort from a tight angle beyond Szczesny but against the bar. Arsenal continued to dominate possession in the second half but their lack of end product was a frustration to manager Arsene Wenger, who was becoming increasingly animated on the touchline. The half-time introductions of Nicklas Bendtner and Marouane Chamakh, and subsequent move to a 4-4-2 formation, did little to cure the Gunners' inability to craft clear-cut opportunities. Their frustration threatened to boil over at times, with Jack Wilshere shown a yellow card after an altercation with Pennant midway through the second-half. Once tensions had thawed, Wenger's side set about trying to salvage something from the game but Van Persie was denied by a top-class save from Potters keeper Asmir Begovic. Bendtner waltzed into the penalty area and laid the ball to Van Persie, who had ghosted into a great position eight yards out, but the Dutchman's low shot was saved expertly by Begovic with his legs. Van Persie finally got his goal, his eighth in consecutive away games, in the 81st minute when he held off the challenges of two Stoke defenders to strike a low right-foot shot which Begovic allowed to squeeze under his body. Stoke, however, restored their two-goal advantage two minutes later when Djourou was only able to half clear Andy Wilkinson's low shot, allowing Walters to nip in unchallenged and stroke the ball home from eight yards. Arsenal's defeat heralds the end of their title dream for another year but, for Stoke, the result is ideal preparation for Saturday's FA Cup final clash against Manchester City. But The Potters will be made to sweat over the fitness of centre-back Robert Huth ahead of the Wembley showpiece, after the German was forced off with a knee injury. Source: BBC