Sunderland 0-2 Arsenal: Player ratings as the Gunners claim a hard-fought win on the road

Arsenal kept up their perfect start to the Premier League season as they battled to a 2-0 victory away at Sunderland on Saturday night.

The Gunners are yet to put a foot wrong this term so it was no surprise to see Mikel Arteta pick the same team that beat Chelsea last time out, with Jurrien Timber returning to the bench after his long injury absence.

Continuity is the smart approach for a febrile atmosphere; like at Villa Park, the boss wanted to keep the crowd quiet.

It did not work.

In appropriate style, the Black Cats made a catty start and did not give their visitors an inch. They set out to pressurise them at every turn and ended up dominating the ball first half, even going close to an opener when two former Gunners – Granit Xhaka and Dan Ballard – almost combined from a set-piece.

Sunderland 0-2 Arsenal player ratings

It bore all the hallmarks of an upset and the opportunity came on a silver platter when the hosts got a penalty. Ezri Konsa was too clingy with Dan Ballard in the box; John Brooks did not hesitate to point to the spot.

But they still could not find a way to David Raya. The Spaniard worries some with his record from the spot but he was on top form here, diving to his left-hand side to tip Enzo Le Fée’s effort onto the post and away.

And it would get even better for Arsenal moments later, as half-time substitute Bruno Guimaraes put them in front. Three minutes after the penalty miss, the summer recruit curled a peach of a strike in off the underside of the crossbar to break the deadlock, the former Toon captain hurting some Black Cat lives in the process.

‘Backs to the walls’ was the theme from that point on and despite their best efforts, the home team would not level things, with insult added to injury when Arsenal earned a penalty of their own at the end and Reinildo got sent off.

That was about as tough as it gets in the Premier League. Here are the player ratings from a 2-0 win for Arsenal at the Stadium of Light.

Goalkeeper & Defenders

David Raya (GK) – 9/10: Just give him the Yashin Trophy now. David Raya was just brilliant, as usual, with his distribution and claims from crosses, and that is before you even get to his wonderful save from the penalty spot. Arsenal simply would not have won this game without Raya and his excellent interventions

Ben White (RB) – 6/10: His standout moment was an accidental handball whilst appealing for a free kick! In fairness, White did push forward on occasion and picked out Bukayo Saka with a number of passes, while he also completed a few defensive headers. It is sad that his night ended early through injury, but hopefully it is not a serious knock.

Ezri Konsa (CB) – 4/10: Konsa seemed to shy away from the Brian Brobbey duels and when he did opt to engage, he often came out second best. His poor performance was compounded by his conceding of the Le Fée penalty. Quite the comedown from Chelsea last week but he will not face tests like that offered by Brobbey every week.

Gabriel Magalhaes (CB) – 7/10: Gabriel took it upon himself to try score early on in the match with a long-range strike. However, he was also at the forefront of the backline work and did well to block a Nordi Mukiele shot on the counter. His commitment to the bit helped to stop Sunderland getting an all-important equaliser.

Riccardo Calafiori (LB) – 6/10: Arsenal were on the back foot and it prevented Riccardo Calafiori from finding joy with his ventures. The Italian still caused headaches with his runs and put in a shift at the other end too.

Midfielders

Martin Odegaard (CM) – 6/10: This slugfest meant it was not the sort of game for Martin Odegaard to wield his usual, magical influence. Even so, he produced a few nice touches and dispossessed his former teammate Xhaka at one point, which earns him a few brownie points in place of his recent goals.

Declan Rice (CM) – 6/10: A terrier-like Sunderland team forced Declan Rice deep, so he had a quiet game by his standards. He will claim the assist for Bruno’s goal (even if Bruno did all the work) but he should hope for a bigger impact next time out.

Myles Lewis-Skelly (CM) – 5/10: Like Ben White, Myles Lewis-Skelly also came off at half-time. But his withdrawal owed to a poor showing rather than injury, with a couple of fouls and one misplaced pass drawing unwanted attention. He will have better days no doubt.

Forwards

Bukayo Saka (RW) – 5/10: Another ‘meh’ display from Bukayo Saka, who failed to make the most of his goal-scoring chances. He inexplicably tried to take down a Rice pass in the first half instead of just shooting first time, while he also wasted a good opportunity to make it 2-0 later on. Beyond that, he was not involved much, even if he did score the late, late penalty.

Kai Havertz (ST) – 6/10: Kai Havertz was nominally a striker but he drifted out to the right flank quite often. Still, he got into good goal-scoring situations and, on one occasion, was denied by a fine save from Robin Roefs.

Christos Tzolis (LW) – 5/10: Similar to Villa Park, Christos Tzolis was largely anonymous though it was not entirely his fault – Sunderland defended for their lives, while the Gunners mostly attacked down the opposite wing. Having said that, he might have done more on a few occasions when on the ball, and Arteta might worry about his inability to impact matches on the road.

Substitutes

Jurrien Timber (on 45’ for White) – 7/10

Bruno Guimaraes (on 45’ for Lewis-Skelly) – 7/10

Martin Zubimendi (on 82’ for Rice) – N/A

Eberechi Eze (on 82’ for Tzolis) – N/A

Mikel Merino (on 86’ for Odegaard) – N/A

Player of the match: David Raya

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