Prior to Saturday’s game, Arsenal were being built up as a mountain that nobody, not even Sunderland, were capable of climbing. Having conceded only three goals in all competitions all season, riding high at the top of the division, it was seen as a bridge too far to imagine that Régis Le Bris and his side could overcome them.
And, to be fair, I get it. Arsenal’s ability to ensure they don’t even concede shots, never mind goals, is unbelievable, and I’m fully expecting them to win the Premier League
this season if they can, more often than not, be the solid defensive unit that they’ve proven themselves to be so far.
We all saw it — I even heard comparisons on TalkSPORT to the ‘invincibles’ team that, back in 2004, did the unthinkable and went a whole season without losing. I’m not here to do Arsenal down, because they’re an excellent side, but I raise that point because it excentuates the fact that what Sunderland did on Saturday was an unbelievable achievement — we went toe-to-toe with the best team in the land right now, and if that game had gone on for another ten minutes I reckon we’d have got a third goal and won the game.
You should never write Sunderland off, and I think the reason we’ve seen and heard so much chat about our team and the way we’re taking the challenge of the Premier League head-on over the course of this week is because people are finally waking up to just how good we are, and the results and performances against Chelsea and Arsenal are a step up from the norm. This isn’t just a honeymoon period at the start of the season – we’re now midway through November, and we occupy a place in the top four. That has been earned.
We might not have the greatest players – although they are, in fairness, pretty bloody good – but we’ve got more desire, heart and spirit than any other team that I’ve seen in the division this season. Just look at what it meant when Robin Roefs saved in the dying minutes, followed by Dan Ballard producing an unworldly block to deny Arsenal a crushing winning goal — this is not an ordinary Sunderland side. We are doing something that rarely happens in the Premier League with a newly promoted side.
We’ve well and truly thrown the rulebook out of the window, and we’re doing things on our own terms. Arsenal may well be a physical and organised side, but so are we, and ultimately, they had no answer to the brute force of Dan Ballard, Brian Brobbey and their teammates on the night.
I cheekily remarked on our podcast that was recorded in the pub after the game that we’d actually won the game 2-2, but it did genuinely feel that way, and still does. Despite only collecting a point, the feeling when Brobbey muscled past Gabriel and karate-kicked the ball into David Raya’s net was as good as any feeling I’ve had when we’ve scored a winner.
The Stadium of Light went berserk, bodies were flying all around me, and Sunderland achieved what I suspect few others will do this season – we took points off the mighty Arsenal and managed to breach a back-line that has looked tighter than ten coats of paint.
Four points from two games against Chelsea and Arsenal is an unbelievable return, and I think now is the time to start taking this Sunderland side seriously.
Barring a complete disaster, I’d expect results to carry on in the manner that they have done thus far, and that would mean we’re on course for a top-half finish, and a potential European place.
We’re only around a third of the way into the season, but we need to start talking ourselves up instead of down. Why not? What have we got to lose? These players are certainly good enough.
Aim for the stars, because you never know what might happen.
