No Karim Benzema, no Edinson Cavani, no Robert Lewandowski – if Arsenal can find their goalscoring groove without a "world-class" striker or not we will find out when Stoke come to the Emirates as the English Premier League returns.

Olivier Giroud, the unnecessarily-maligned striker, is the only goalscorer not named own goal for Arsenal this season, and that particular statistic will have to change in a hurry if Arsene Wenger's men are to make a serious challenge for the title this season.

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"We have created the chances and that's what we want to continue to do," Wenger said.

"I believe that the finishing is a bit cyclical, up and down, and we are the team who has created the most chances since the start of the season, so let's just continue to focus on the quality of our game.

"It is about the efficiency and the quality of our game, we can score goals and I am not worried about that. We have Alexis [Sanchez], we have Giroud and we have [Theo] Walcott. It is a massive opportunity for them of course."

If they can grab that opportunity at home or not remains to be seen, as Arsenal are yet to taste victory at the Emirates this season.

A horrendous 2-0 loss to West Ham on opening day was followed by a 0-0 draw against Liverpool, and even if Arsenal have a decent home record against Stoke – the same cannot be said of their record at the Britannia, of course -- Mark Hughes' side are capable of punishing even the slightest of mistakes.

Arsenal are, though, boosted by the return of Per Mertesacker, who missed the last couple of matches through illness, while Laurent Koscielny has also been passed fit by Wenger, after the defender missed France's friendly against Serbia through injury.

"Per was out for 18 days, but he's back now in training," Wenger added. "Laurent is alright, he had a normal training session."

Wenger also revealed all the players that went out on international duty have returned with no injury problems.

"All the players who have been away on international duty have come back in good shape," the manager said. "We should have the same squad available."

A player not in good shape, however, is Danny Welbeck, with Wenger bemoaning the striker's injury, just when he looked like he was on his way back, after missing the latter part of last season.

"Yes, we got very bad news because in my mind he was almost ready to play again," Wenger said of Welbeck. "He was very close but he could not tolerate the final step up in his rehab.

"We always wanted to try conservative rehab first under the guidance of specialists and he did get very close. We had to consult and in the end they decided to go in and see what's wrong. He will be out certainly until Christmas."

Also missing for Arsenal in this Stoke match will be Tomas Rosicky and Jack Wilshere, who, according to the Frenchman, is making slow progress.

Stoke City also have a few injury worries, with Glen Johnson, Marko Arnautovic and Mame Biram Diouf all major doubts for the game on Saturday.

"We will have to see what the next 24 hours or so brings with regards to the three guys," Hughes said on Thursday. "Glen has a problem with his hamstring which we he picked up in the last game, so we will have to assess him and then make a decision tomorrow.

"Marko received a kick on his ankle which has hampered him somewhat, but he was able to play through that for Austria in the week.

"Mame went away but didn't feature and has come back and still hasn't been able to train neither, so that is frustrating for us.

"None of the lads were able to get any real work in on the training pitches today, but we will re-assess the situation on Friday morning and then take it from there."

Forward Peter Odemwingie, though, is back in training, but this match might come too soon for the Nigeria international.

Arsenal vs Stoke City Schedule: 12 September, Saturday: Match time: 3 pm local time (7.30 pm IST, 10 am ET).

Venue: Emirates Stadium in London.