Arsenal still fear facing off against Stoke City, despite their change in manager and playing style, claims former England international Peter Crouch.

The Gunners travelled to Stoke at the weekend and fell to a 3-2 loss, having trailed 3-0 at half time.

This blitz from Mark Hughes’ side suggests that Arsenal are still struggling from the same mental frailties that they are infamous for.

Despite having finished fourth in the Premier League on a consistent basis on the last few years, there are those who believe that the north London side will not step beyond that point in the near future, given the lack of leaders in the team.

Furthermore, there are now those who are questioning Arsene Wenger’s position as manager, despite the consistent success that he has brought to the club.

Some even surrounded Wenger and his players at Stoke train station on Saturday night, demanding his departure.

A video of this incident went viral on social media.

Crouch himself attributes the huge win, in part, to a fear factor.

“I’ve been an away player here before and it’s not a nice place to come,” Crouch said. “I’ve been here with Spurs, with Liverpool and as a big club you’re like, ‘Do we really have to go to Stoke?’

“That’s something we have to maintain. We have to keep that going. It’s all right playing good football, but we still have that fear factor so that the big teams come here and don’t like playing against us. We proved we still have that.”