Arsenal were too much for Sunderland today en route to a comprehensive 3-0 win at the Emirates. The Gunners held the Black Cats off, took the lead, ground ‘em down, and finished with style. You couldn’t draw it up much better. The win takes Arsenal nine clear of Aston Villa and Manchester City, who play at Liverpool tomorrow. That’s a lot of pressure to heap on Pep Guardiola’s side to keep pace — Anfield is not an easy place to play.
Sunderland made it uncomfortable for a while, so credit to them.
But they didn’t have the legs to keep up over 90 minutes. They did well enough slowing down and disrupting the flow of the match in the first half but that’s only part of the battle. The Black Cats didn’t create enough chaos from set pieces, throws, and open play to give themselves a route into the match.
Their best opportunity came early in the match when David Raya caught a ball in the air but bumped into Dan Ballard and lost it off the top of his head as he came down. Brian Brobbey’s shot towards the empty net may have been headed wide anyway, but Kai Havertz covered for his keeper to make sure of it. Raya made amends for his error the only other time he was called on to make a real save, getting down well to his left to tip a shot from the edge of the box wide in the second half at 1-0.
Had Sunderland scored, it would have been a near copy of Martin Zubimendi’s goal late in the first half that gave Arsenal the lead. The midfielder ripped a shot off the inside of the near post and into the back of the net from the edge / corner of the box with magnificent shooting technique. It’s not easy to beat the keeper at the near post. Zubimendi struck it purely. He celebrated by doing Mikel Merino’s run-around-the-flag celebration and pointed to his teammate and countryman watching from a luxury box.
Sidenote: if you want to diminish the focus on set pieces and get more goals from open play (as so many idiots people have been relentlessly moaning about Arsenal), find a way to outlaw the way Sunderland were defending on Zubimendi’s goal. They had all 10 outfield players either inside or within 10 yards of their own box.
Zubimendi scored minutes after Declan Rice curled a shot just wide of the far post from outside the box. Kai Havertz went close from distance, too. If teams are going to continue to sit off Arsenal, shots from distance could prove an important weapon going forward.
Arsenal doubled their lead midway through the second half. Leandro Trossard forced Trey Hume into a bad turnover and held Kai Havertz onside. The German found Viktor Gyokeres, who despite going to ground, absolutely lashed it past Robin Roefs. The Big Swede finished the match with a flourish, scoring into an empty net after Gabriel Martinelli showed great strength and speed to pull away from his defender on the break. Kudos to Gyokeres for his long run to catch up to the break and provide an option for the Brazilian and well done to Gabby for spotting him.
A few more notes from the match:
- William Saliba had a bit of shaky match, but he did well in the physical battles with Brian Brobbey, especially after picking up an early yellow card.
- Brobbey was a bit lucky to get away with a yellow card after catching Martin Zubimendi well up on his shin with his studs. The referee wasn’t even going to call a foul until one of the linesman told him on the headset that he’d missed it. The Sunderland man was probably saved by it being a glancing blow, although my feeling is that a bad challenge is a bad challenge. A lack of damage done shouldn’t matter.
- All told, the referee had an alright game. He could have clamped down a bit more on Sunderland’s time-wasting, which started inside the first minute. His decisions on what was and wasn’t a foul and who committed one in the physical battles between CB and CF, both ways, were totally unpredictable.
- Riccardo Calafiori looked rusty coming back from injury, which is to be expected.
- Leandro Trossard was excellent. He repeatedly beat Trey Hume down the left wing. His defensive workrate and aptitude seems to have increased, too. Maybe I’m selling him short on his previous efforts, but it feels like he’s even more dialed in now. Hopefully whatever forced him off as time ticked down isn’t serious.
- Kai Havertz is a difference-maker. He makes every player around him better.
- Gabriel Jesus and Noni Madueke had quiet outings, although the Brazilian was just a fraction offside from earning a penalty and a potential red card for Sunderland minutes after Arsenal took a 1-0 lead. Their value today came from 60 minutes of work wearing down defenders so that the fresh legs of Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Martinelli could do the damage.
Just the three goals from open play against the third-best defense in the Premier League on goals against for Arsenal without Bukayo Saka or Martin Ødegaard in the squad. Those “Arsenal are ruining football” narrative-peddlers must be in shambles. Not that we should care what they think and say, but still, it’s fun see them emphatically proven wrong.
It may not have felt great at times, but this was an excellent performance and a quality win for the Gunners. A complete 180 from the match earlier this season at the Stadium of Light. In November, Arsenal ran out of steam, didn’t have much on the bench (injuries), and were pegged back. Today, the Gunners got stronger as the match wore on, brought on fresh legs, and put the match out of reach.
