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.