An injury hit Arsenal will be looking to return to winning ways when they take on a rejuvenated Sunderland side at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
The Gunners will thankful for the turn of the new month after a disastrous November, which saw them record just two wins from six outings.
There is a sense of déjà vu among Arsenal fans, with the team failing twice to reach the summit of the Premier League table after slip ups to lowly placed opposition in West Brom and Norwich City, two games that one would of banked the team on winning, despite playing away from home.
It again highlights the squad’s questionable mentality and inability to show a ruthless, killer instinct when opportunities to take grasp the initiative in the title race present themselves.
The North Londoners now sit in fourth place and are in danger of falling further off the pace, after the outlook was so bright when the international break took place two weeks ago. But they still remain firmly in title calculations, sitting two points behind leaders Manchester City.
Sunderland have shown significant improvement since the arrival of Sam Allardyce and an ability to make his teams hard to play against has immediately come to fruition, as the Black Cats registered two impressive win’s away at Crystal Palace and at home to Stoke City, while also keeping two clean sheets in the process.
The doom and gloom has been lifted around the Stadium of Light after the toxic atmosphere that surrounded the club for the majority of the campaign, now clear of the relegation zone by two points.
Plucky Allardyce teams have given Arsene Wenger major headaches in the past, and his side will come into the capital buoyed by their recent run of encouraging form.
Key Battle – Sunderland back three vs Arsenal attack
It is fair to say that the visitors will be on the back foot for large portions of this encounter and will require every bit of their new found resilience to blunt the Gunners attack, which has not been at its fluid best in recent times-
Since tinkering to a new system that includes a three-man defence in their past two matches Sunderland have been outstanding, with John O’Shea, Younus Kaboul and Sebastian Coates noticeably flourishing in the newly implemented formation.
Under Dick Advocaat, the Black Cats were able to successfully nullify Arsenal in the final third and continually frustrate the home side. They will be looking for something of similar ilk this time around.
With Theo Walcott now fit, Wenger would be contemplating whether his speed and movement would be better suited then the more static Olivier Giroud in attempting to manipulate the three Sunderland centre-backs out of their comfort zones.
Team News
In a cruel blow, it was revealed that midfield lynchpin Santi Cazorla has been ruled out for up to three months with knee ligament damage. On top of that star winger Alexis Sanchez will miss up to a month with a hamstring strain. This is on top of an already overcrowded injury warden that contains Francis Coquelin, Mikel Arteta, Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck and Tomas Rosicky.
The loss of Cazorla and Coquelin, who have been the cornerstone of Arsenal’s midfield for just short of a year, means a complete tactical reshape in the central-midfield, with Aaron Ramsey expected to return to his fancied role, possibly alongside Mathieu Flamini.
There was finally some good news on the injury front for Wenger though, with the return of Walcott and Kieran Gibbs from a calf complaint, while Laurent Koscielny looks set to start after an injury scare at Norwich where he was forced to be substituted early in proceedings.
The only downer from Sunderland’s terrific win last weekend against Stoke was the injuries to pair Jermaine Defoe (hamstring) and Sebastian Larsson (knee).
It means Allardyce will be forced into making changes in midfield and attack, with the likes of Jordi Gomez, Adam Johnson, Fabio Borini and Duncan Watmore all in contention to be recalled to the starting lineup.
There will be no change at the back, however, with the manager continuing with a three-man defence flanked by wing backs DeAndre Yedlin and Patrick van Aanholt.
Head-to-head
Overall, Sunderland have travelled to Arsenal on 71 occasions, winning just 16 times compared to the Gunners 37. The Back Cats have gone 11 games without victory over the North Londoners, with their last coming in 2009 at the Stadium of Light.
Arsenal are yet to loose on home soil to Sunderland, although they have managed to grind out four goalless draws in the past seven encounters at the Emirates Stadium.
Last Meeting
The most recent meeting transpired in May, when a Dick Advocaat-led Sunderland outfit registered a hard earned point to guaranteed their Premier League survival for another year.
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Prediction
Arsenal will be happy to return to the Emirates and this is seen as a great chance to return to the winners circle after a bitterly disappointing last two weeks. If this match was played a couple of months ago it would of been a foregone conclusion, however, the contrasting fortunes of both teams means there is every chance of a potential upset eventuating.
Despite the players that are unavailable, the lineup that Wenger will put out is still good enough to do the job and pocket all three points. Expect Sunderland to be stubborn and organised, but in the end the home side will have enough to eek past and get their season back on track.
Arsenal 1 Sunderland 0
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