Arsenal Vs Sunderland: Recap, Highlights And Analysis

Arsenal travelled North East to face bottom of the league Sunderland. Here is a full recap, all the highlights and analysis from the 4-1 victory.

Saturday lunchtime’s game saw bottom of the table Sunderland host joint top of the table Arsenal with their confidence low after a late loss to West Ham United the week previous. The Gunners, on the other hand, have been in excellent form, and while a 0-0 draw against Middlesbrough last time around highlighted some attacking issues without Santi Cazorla orchestrating proceedings from central areas.

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With Arsenal once again expected to dominate possession, the same problems faced against Boro were anticipated to surface once more with Cazorla again missing. However, while early signs were not particularly positive, with Sunderland playing disciplined defensive football, the breakthrough on the 19th minute changed the game.

The goal came after 22 passes with David Moyes’ side never pressing the ball, even deep in their half. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, playing in Theo Walcott’s stead after he picked up a slight knock in the week, beat Duncan Watmore with a nice dummy cross, created an extra yard, whipped a lovely ball which Alexis Sanchez glanced into the top left corner, getting across the front of Lamine Kone who was horrifically flat-footed as the cross came in.

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The remainder of the first half continued in similar fashion. Wenger’s side dominated possession, Sunderland looked devoid of energy and desire to ever close down or pressure the ball and the Gunners were simply happy to be patient with their build up play, trying to create space for the likes of Iwobi, Sanchez and Ozil further forward.

Sunderland did have the ball in the back of the net thanks to a contorted Jermain Defoe, but Wahbi Khazri was correctly ruled offside in the build up while Ozil himself missed a good opportunity in trying to chip Jordan Pickford but never got the necessary purchase to trouble the Sunderland keeper.

The second half, though, changed.

Arsenal were far too casual with only a one goal lead, weren’t ruthless in attacking areas and struggled to deal with the pace of Duncan Watmore and Jermain Defoe as Sunderland pushed forward and were punished as a result.

The equaliser came from the penalty spot. Watmore harrassed Shkodran Mustafi under a bouncing ball, won the ball and drove forward. Petr Cech was forced out of his goal, Watmore shimmied his way past the onrushing goalkeeper and was clearly brought down, forcing Martin Atkinson to point to the spot. Defoe, as he so often does for Sunderland, stepped up to the mark, and cooly slotted the penalty away, sending Cech the wrong way.

Thankfully for Arsenal, Olivier Giroud turned up. Coming off the bench, the Frenchman first converted a Kieran Gibbs cross with an athletic volley with his first touch of the game. He then added his second and Arsenal’s third with a glanced header at the front post from an inswinging Mesut Ozil corner, his first Premier League assist of the season. Both were vintage Giroud goals and indicate his importance to this side.

Not to be denied, however, Sanchez was also keen to get in the goals once again with a lovely goal. Gibbs once again causing problems down the left-hand side, shot at goal dangerously. The ball struck the foot of the near post, rebounded to Sanchez after colliding off the outstretched leg of Aaron Ramsey and the Chilean, with wonderful composure, turned and simply slotted the ball past Pickford from only a few yards out.

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This was an excellent performance from Arsenal but it could have been a terrible result. The casual 20 minutes after half-time very nearly cost the Gunners the crucial three points, and if not for Giroud and Sanchez, this could have been a very different result.

Highlights

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