Goals:
0-1: Sanchez (30, latched on to Brown’s horrible error on half way before applying tidy finish beyond Mannone);
0-2: Sanchez (90, made the most of Mannone’s failure to deal with Buckley’s poor back pass properly)
Bookings: Gibbs (24, foul); Larsson (38, foul); Welbeck (49, simulation); Arteta (56, foul); Cattermole (63, foul); Wickham (68, foul)
Referee: Kevin Friend (Walsall) – handed cards out when they were not expected and vice-versa. 4
Attendance: 44, 449
Entertainment: 2/5
Sund Ars’l
Shots on: 3 5
Shots off: 7 8
Corners: 3 3
Offsides: 2 1
Fouls: 11 9
SUNDERLAND (4-1-4-1):
3 Mannone: Beaten by Sanchez in the first half and then got in a muddle to gift him the second late on;
4 Vergini: Steadier at right-back than a week earlier but not by much apart from a couple of silky skills moments
5 O’Shea: The pick of the defenders, with a a number of telling blocks but looked nervy at times;
3 Brown: His error handed Arsenal the lead and that proved to be to Sunderland’s downfall
5 Van Aanholt: Looked shaky defensively but did push forward a bit more to create a threat after the restart;
5 Cattermole: Much steadier in the middle than he was last week but faded after picking up a caution just after the hour;
3 Buckley: Hardly had an impact until he played the stupid back pass to Mannone in stoppage-time
5 Rodwell: Started brightly and keen to impress but unable to make his mark in the final third
6 LARSSON: Delivered a couple of nice crosses in to the area and had one of Sunderland’s best efforts on goal
4 Johnson: Far too quiet by his own standards again and Sunderland need him to recapture his January form;
4 Fletcher: Caused few problems for the Arsenal defence and struggled to hold up play too
Subs
Wickham (for Fletcher 50): Failed to have the desired impact. 4
Gomez (for Rodwell 74)
Altidore (for Johnson 74)
(not used): Pantilimon (gk), Bridcutt, Reveillere, Mavrias.
ARSENAL: Szczesny 6; Chambers 7, Monreal 6, Mertesacker 7, Gibbs 6 (Bellerin 74); Arteta 4 (Ramsey 88), Flamini 5; Oxlade-Chamberlain 5 (Rosicky 90), SANCHEZ 7, Cazorla 6; Welbeck 6. Subs: Martinez, Podolski, Walcott, Campbell.
MAN OF THE MATCH: ALEXIS Sanchez – was on the spot to make the most of the chances gifted to him by a generous Sunderland.
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