Arsenal showed plenty of grit, character and graft to come up trumps against a determined but error-prone Sunderland side at the Stadium of light.
Prior to the game, Arsène Wenger had stressed the importance of improving defensively saying; “It's [about] improving by getting everybody to put a bit more effort into the defensive work. That starts not only at the back, but up front and in midfield by increasing the level of defensive activity through the team. We have had to reshuffle the defence and [the players] getting used to playing together helps as well”. Arsenal as a consequence started the game much more compact, with Wenger’s somewhat surprising selection of Flamini and Arteta in a 4-2-3-1 formation, helping to protect the inexperienced Nacho Monreal at the heart of the gunners’ defence.
Per Mertesacker’s contribution was huge as he helped to give Monreal confidence in his unfamiliar central defence berth, constantly coaching him and offering encouragement in the course of a first half where the gunners dominated territorially, but always seemed susceptible to a quick breakaway by a determined Sunderland team that was vociferously backed throughout by their boisterous fans.
The chances were few and far between in the opening minutes, until Danny Welbeck’s brilliant curler just skimmed the top of the Sunderland goal, following good work by Alexis Sanchez. Sanchez was to go one better a few moments later as his run through on goal and delightful chip when left one-on-one with Mannone following an unfortunate attempt at a back pass by Wes Brown, trickled into the Sunderland net.
Sunderland showed some more fight on resumption from the break, with Jack Rodwell testing Szczesny with a strong header which the Pole held onto.
Arsenal though continued to largely control the game with Arteta’s calming influence in midfield a notable feature. The Spaniard was to go into the referee’s book though, when a high-footed lunge caught Jack Rodwell on the chin. It was clearly unintentional but was deemed reckless play and thus meriting of a yellow card.
The last quarter of an hour saw the game begin to get increasingly fractious as Sunderland, pushed on by their impressive fans began to scrap more urgently for an equaliser. As the tackles flew in, the black cats seemed to sense an opportunity to go for the kill, but an Arsenal defence that had to be re-jigged when Kieran Gibbs limped off with a suspected hip complaint held on steadfastly.
Arsenal mounted a rearguard action in the dying minutes as they exploited space on the counter left by Sunderland’s push forward. Danny Welbeck headed narrowly over the bar from close range as Mannone was left exposed by a horrid back pass deep in his penalty area with Alexis Sanchez lurking nearby with intent. All that was left was for the imperious Chilean to intercept Mannone’s fumble at the ball and chip the ball around the goalkeeper to secure a much deserved three points for the gunners and relieve some of the pressure that had been building around the gunners’ following a less than audacious start to the season.
Source: DSG
