Robin van Persie scored twice after coming on as a substitute as Arsenal finally saw off Stoke in the Barclays Premier League.
The Gunners had been pegged back by Peter Crouch's goal, which cancelled out an opener from Gervinho.
But Van Persie, rested from the starting line-up by manager Arsene Wenger, bailed his team-mates out with his eighth and ninth goals of the season in the second half.
The Holland striker and Gunners captain, who has scored seven goals this season, started on the bench with Marouane Chamakh starting alongside Gervinho in attack.
Aaron Ramsey returned to the starting line-up following his midweek goalscoring cameo in Europe, while former Tottenham forward Peter Crouch was restored to the Stoke line-up.
Despite all the talk of an early-season crisis at the Emirates Stadium, the Gunners kicked off looking for a sixth win in their last seven matches.
However, the first chance of the afternoon fell to Stoke winger Matt Etherington, who cut inside from the right but dragged his shot the wrong side of the near post.
Arsenal should have taken the lead in the 10th minute when Chamakh had a free header from Mikel Arteta's corner, but he made a mess of his effort which flew wide.
With the hosts warming to their task, Arteta fired a low drive narrowly wide and Gervinho just failed to control Ramsey's lofted ball into the area.
Theo Walcott then left Marc Wilson trailing behind him and his dangerous cross was fingertipped to safety by Asmir Begovic.
In the 23rd minute Ramsey almost repeated his Marseille heroics with a fierce drive which fizzed just wide.
The goal Arsenal had been threatening arrived in the 27th minute, with Ramsey the architect.
The Wales international, who had his leg broken by Stoke's Ryan Shawcross 18 months ago, collected a half-clearance from the Potters defender and chipped it back into the area.
Gervinho's chest control this time was perfect, creating the angle for him to beat the diving Begovic from 12 yards for his second goal since joining the club.
But Stoke grabbed a shock leveller seven minutes later from a disputed free-kick after Laurent Koscielny was adjudged to have fouled Crouch.
As Wenger protested to fourth official Jon Moss, Glenn Whelan lofted the ball into the area, Shawcross' cross found its way to Jon Walters at the far post and his header back across goal was nodded in by Crouch.
Johan Djourou could have put the Gunners back in front in first-half stoppage time but he failed to connect with Arteta's cross in front of goal.
Arsenal began the second half sluggishly, with the biggest stir caused by Van Persie when he began to warm-up on the touchline.
Chamakh passed up another half-chance with an overhead kick which drifted wide following a goalmouth scramble.
A change was inevitable and Van Persie finally made his entrance with 25 minutes remaining, replacing Chamakh.
The Dutchman almost made an immediate impact with a neat turn and cross which flew just over the head of Ramsey.
But it took only eight minutes for Van Persie to get Arsenal back on track.
Gervinho beat Walters to reach the byline and pulled the ball back for Van Persie, who squeezed the ball between Begovic and his near post.
At the other end Cameron Jerome almost got on the end of Kenwyne Jones' header but succeeded only in barging into Gunners goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
Instead Van Persie had the final say with six minutes to go, Gervinho again the provider with a low cross which the in-form striker dispatched past Begovic to kill Stoke off.
Van Persie even had time to return the favour for Gervinho but the Ivory Coast striker's shot was turned away by Begovic before the final whistle.
By MirrorFootball
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