Sunderland v Arsenal, Saturday 9th February 3pm, Premier League, Stadium of Light


Premier League

1. Man Utd 62pts
2. Man City 53pts
3. Chelsea 46pts
4. Spurs 45pts
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5. Everton 42pts
6. Arsenal 41pts
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12. Sunderland 29pts


Gunners aim to continue good form

Despite the perceived negativity surrounding Arsenal's season - which is understandable given the well-documented trophy drought - the Gunners are in strong league form. Arsene Wenger's side have won 6 of their last 10 games in the Premier League. The only defeats during that period have come against Manchester City and Chelsea, and one could point to the unfortunate circumstances in which Arsenal lost both them fixtures. After three consecutive home games, in which Arsenal took 7 points from a possible 9, Wenger takes his side up north this weekend to the Stadium of Light. Sunderland provide the opposition, in what will, in all likeliness, prove to be another testing tie in the Premier League.

Inconsistent Sunderland provide tricky test

After 15 league games this season, Sunderland had only won twice. It's quite rare that a Martin O'Neill side manages to fail to win for such a prolonged period, but that's what happened. The poor form was even more of a surprise when you consider the change in fortunes that the Northern Irishman brought the Mackems when he took over half-way through last season - after 9 wins in his first 17 league games, the club were as high as eighth.

But after a testing first five months of the current campaign, O'Neill has revived Sunderland, with his side winning 5 of their last 10 league fixtures; a run that includes a victory against the champions Manchester City. Eminently winnable games lies ahead. After Arsenal's visit, Sunderland travel to West Brom, before a home clash with Fulham. With an eight-point gap separating O'Neill's side from the relegation zone, there's enough room for Sunderland to breath easily.

Match Facts

* Arsenal have conceded 62% of their goals in the first half of games - a league high proportion - and conceded fewer in total after the break than any other team (11).

* The Gunners have lost just one of their last nine trips to the north east in the Premier League (W3 D5 L1).

* Arsenal have won 10 and lost just one of their last 18 Premier League games against Sunderland

* Lukas Podolski has had a hand in 10 goals in his last eight Premier League apps for Arsenal

* Sunderland have won just one game against a team in the top half of the table this season (W1 D5 L7)

* If only second half performances were taken into account, Arsenal would be 2nd in the Premier League table to Man City on goals scored (49 points each).

* There have been fewer goals scored at the Stadium of Light than at any other Premier League ground (26), in contrast to the most being netted at Arsenal’s Stadium the Emirates (51).

Team News

Arsenal

Vermaelen (ankle) & Gibbs (thigh) are out but Coquelin (hamstring) is available again. Koscielny (calf) will have a fitness test. Gervinho is now back from the African cup of Nations but will not be included in the squad.

Sunderland

Cuellar (hamstring) & Clattermole (knee) are both doubts, while Wickham has left the club to join Sheffield Wednesday on loan. McClean (ankle) & Brown (knee) are out.


Manager's views

Arsène Wenger

"The defensive options are restricted, I will have to be creative! We have Iggy Miquel, we have Sagna who can play there and Jenkinson on right, so we will see. But we have very good hope that Koscielny will be available. Koscielny had a reassuring scan last night."

"The most important thing for me will be to keep Wilshere's passion for the game, and keep the attitude of wanting to become a better player. If he keeps these two ingredients that are not always easy, he can of course become a fantastic player. He is already one, but he can become one of the best in the world, yes."

Martin O'Neill

"We had a rather stodgy game against Swansea and then I was hoping we could put that out of our minds and go on to win at Reading. A draw would have been a fair enough result but we were very disappointed to lose the game late on. It's important to try to get back to winning ways because we had been on a good run. Arsenal have seen the emergence of one or two younger players and, especially going forward, they are absolutely excellent. I think they're a fine side."

Excellent work mate.


I really really dislike stadium of light. Something about this fixture which has that "meh" feeling to it

We barely win over there. Remember that last second bent equaliser ? or that Leadbitter wonder goal after we should have been 10-0 ahead.

It's just one of the bogey stadiums. We find it hard to score more than 2 goals. Last year Henry won us the game. This year i hope we can put 4 past them so it doesn't come to us working really hard.

We go in the game after an international break. We are shit after an international break :lol

Need to win this game at all cost though.

Great Preview Sam.

A must win game, dont want to deal with any negatively for the CL game. Sunderland are no better than Stoke will try to frustrate us and will defend just like Stoke and an early Goal is a must.

Giroud has to take his chances and hope he gets good service from the wings.

- - - - - - - Szczesny
- Sagna -Mert----Koscielny - Nacho
- - - - - - Wilshere - - Arteta
- Walcott _- - - Cazorla - - - - -Podolski
- - - - - - - - - Giroud

I think we will win the game 3-1 or 2-1.

Nice preview Sam..
a tricky fixture.. but we should have enough quality to win the game 0-1 or 0-2 if we dont make comical defensive errors.. last week our squad was loking good with Diaby and Rosicky returning.. suddenly we lose some players and we look terribly short..
lets hope we dont see Squid-Metskr partnership.. what a terribly slow pairing it would be.. and if we keep playing the high line..
I hope we can score the first goal early and make it an open game...

Some talks of maybe Miquel starting tomorrow

Him and Mertesacker will be a really slow partnership if it does happen lol

Arsène Wenger pre-Sunderland press conference - http://bit.ly/WWrq5P

Wenger: "We let Vermaelen join up with Belgium in mid-week to see their doctors, they sent him back straight away, he couldn't play."

Wenger: "Brady's replacement? We'll choose the best possible person, it's a very important department in our club. It's vital for us."

Wenger on Europol investigation: "Sport is full of legends who are in fact cheats. We had another example recently (Lance Armstrong)."

Wenger on Giroud, Walcott & Podolski scoring 44 goals this season: "I'm happy that slowly they understand each other well."

I'll be watching this with Robert Pires at the Emirates tomorrow

Great Preview

hopefully we will score early goal
many of our starters got so many mins on international duty some as game goes on our level would drop
so hope we just conrtol the game and out-sunderland them after taking the lead

Lex wrote:I'll be watching this with Robert Pires at the Emirates tomorrow

Nice lets hope you can bring us some luck. Great preview COYG

Great preview Sam.

Tricky match. Never looking forward to this fixture. It juz always has the sense of struggle and difficulty. But we need to keep this run going. For the league, cup and UCL. Momentum is a great thing. It brings confidence and faith.

It will be difficult. I'm sure of it. Sunderland have had a crazy up and down season. And their only goal threat comes in the form of Fletcher. I'm sure Merts and Kos will be able to deal with him. We juz need a great start for once and look to end the game as soon as we can.

C'mon Arsenal!!!

Thanks for compliments as ever guys.

Great work Sam, hope our front 3 bail us out again because that defense looks fragile.

Going to the Stadium of Light is never an easy trip to make, remember last season?

As long as we keep a solid shape and don't over-complicate things I can see us winning this comfortably, but hey, this is Arsenal we're talking about.