(CNN) -- Arsenal closed to within a point of leaders Manchester United with a 1-0 win over Stoke at the Emirates Wednesday night.
Arsenal hit the woodwork through Theo Walcott after just a minute and went ahead on 14 as Sebastien Squillaci scored from a header, his first league goal of the season.
But Arsenal lost Cesc Fabregas to injury soon afterwards and lost momentum against determined opponents.
Walcott also went off through injury in the second half, a worrying development for the Gunners with Sunday's League Cup final against Birmingham looming.
Ryan Shawcross, playing his first match at Arsenal since his tackle on Aaron Ramsey left the Welshman with a broken leg, nearly equalized for the visitors early in the second half, but saw his header deflected just wide.
The win leaves Arsenal on 56 points, one behind United in the English Premier League title race, but having played a game more.
In Serie A, Vincenzo Montella made a winning start to his Roma reign with a 1-0 victory at Bologna.
Daniele De Rossi scored the only goal of the game in the last minute of the first half in a game called off in January due to snow.
Roma move up to sixth in the table to revive their hopes of European qualification after a sorry run under Claudio Ranieri, culminating in their 4-3 defeat to Genoa Sunday after leading 3-0.
Ranieri quit after the defeat and the goalscorer De Rossi was quick to praise his successor.
"It seems a bit much to me to talk about what Vincenzo has given us in these last two days, but he began with an incredible desire to prepare (the team).
"He's always had character and he's shown it also as a coach," he told AFP.
The match had only a 28-minute first half as the original encounter was called off after 17 minutes.