Sunderland 0 Arsenal 1: The Gunners Hold Out For Nervy Victory

Oh Santi Cazorla

Arsenal came up against a Sunderland side that boasted of the lowest amount of goals conceded on a Premier League ground. Martin O’ Neill’s outfit aren’t the best of sides, but they had made their home a hard ground to play for the opposition.

Following the solitary victory over Stoke that was accompanied by the needless international break, Arsenal was badly depleted at the back and Laurent Koscielny was believed to have passed a late fitness test to play yesterday. In the warm up, Koscielny picked up a knock forcing Wenger to deploy Bacary Sagna to an unfamiliar center back role with Carl Jenkinson drafted into the right back position.

Aaron Ramsey was recalled to the midfield and Lukas Podolski had to make do with a place on the dugout.

Sunderland drew first blood when Craig Gardner lofted a cross for newbie, Alfred N’ Diaye but his header glanced over the bar. On the other end, Theo Walcott tested Simon Mignolet with a tame shot that was easy pickings for the Belgian goalie. In the buildup to that attack, Lee Cattermole clattered Ramsey and got a booking he deserved.

Olivier Giroud did well to fashion a chance for Walcott but the Englishman managed to blast the ball with the angle against him. Nonetheless, Mignolet made another fine stop.

The fleet-footed Stephane Sessegnon left Nacho Monreal for dead before drilling his cross into the box but Jenkinson was on hand to blast the ball to safety. It was end to end stuff as Jack Wilshere made another darting run in the middle before teeing up Giroud that blasted his effort wide off the mark.

Wilshere was in the thick of things yet again, as he cushioned the ball for Ramsey that wasted no time in blasting his shot goalwards. Within moments, Mignolet developed the reflexes of a cat to make another spectacular and I wasn’t surprised when I heard that it’s only Manchester City’s Joe Hart that  has more clean sheets than the Sunderland goalie.

Arsenal’s sheer persistence paid off when Wilshere waltzed through two players before locating Walcott. The English forward sent a carefully-weighted pass to Santi Cazorla and the magician sent a low drive past Mignolet to make it one nil to the Arsenal.

That goal bolstered Arsenal’s confidence levels and they simply ran the show in the Stadium of Light. There was a moment when Mikel Arteta, Giroud and Wilshere combined superbly but Danny Rose made a last-ditch block to send the ball to safety with Walcott lurking on the far post.

Walcott went on to have to quick-fire efforts that were poor for a player of his standards but everyone connected with Arsenal was in shock when Ramsey missed from point-blank range after some good work from Giroud.

1-0 seemed like a good way to end the half from an Arsenal perspective but the second half offered a different prospect.

Early on, Arsenal’s injury woes were compounded when Jack Wilshere was substituted for what seems like a thigh injury. Sunderland almost got an equalizer when Ramsey was caught in possession but Steven Fletcher’s shot was fired wide.

The game turned on its head when Jenkinson received his marching orders for his second bookable offence and it went downhill for Arsenal from there. Wilshere’s withdrawal and Jenko’s sending off injected a breath of life into Sunderland’s play and they threatened the Gunners till the game was ended.

Sessegnon and Adam Johnson were at the forefront of the onslaught but the Arsenal backline held firm with Sagna and Per Mertesacker making a plethora of defensive blocks, headers, interceptions, merteceptions and the whole nine yards.

Arsenal got a lucky break when Cazorla sliced the Sunderland defense open with a sumptuous through ball to Walcott. The Englishman chipped the ball over Mignolet but the post spared his blushes.

Sunderland continued to probe the Arsenal defense and almost got an equalizer when Fletcher blocked Mertesacker’s clearance with his hands creating an one on one opportunity for himself but Szczesny raced out of his line to make a very important save for his team.

Late on, there were a couple of Titus Bramble misses but Arsenal had the chance to put the game beyond doubt when Giroud got an opportunity with teammates free on both sides but he chose to kill a bird in the sky much to the disgust of his manager.

At the end, it was three precious points obtained from the North East that allowed the Gunners to leapfrog Everton to fifth place, as Chelsea and Tottenham won their games as well.

Wenger hailed the commitment and resilience of his team and lauded the performances of his back five, that did a pretty amazing job if you ask me. On the down side, Wenger confirmed that Wilshere will be out for four to five days, which officially rules him out of the crunch clash with Bayern Munich.

In recent times, questions have been asked of Arsenal’s defense. Everyone has gotten an answer in the Stadium of Light.

Sayonara.

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Sunderland Preview: A Chance to Show Arsenal’s Depth

Arsenal’s last win in the Stadium of Light

I like many other Arsenal fans out there, was skeptical about the international break that was sandwiched in between club fixtures and my misery has been compounded with the fact that Arsenal had its fair share of casualties in the interlull.

Arsenal’s defense had been badly hit with injuries and Laurent Koscielny is set to join Kieran Gibbs in the sidelines following a calf injury he picked up playing for his nation against Germany. According to the official website, Koscielny will face a late fitness test for today’s game and the chances of him featuring are slim to none.

Arsenal’s captain, Thomas Vermaelen has added to his team’s ever-increasing injury list as he has had a recurrence of that ankle injury he suffered against West Ham. This now leaves Arsenal deceptively short at the back and one can wonder who will partner Per Mertesacker in the heart of the defense, with Johan Djourou yoddling in Germany at the moment.

In addition to Vermaelen’s injury troubles, he has been on the news lately, talking about how he never doubted his team’s potential and how the Sunderland fixture is going to be tough.

This brings Arsenal to the curious cases of Ignasi Miquel and Sebastien Squillaci. Miquel has featured sparingly as you would expect, in early Capital One fixtures while the Squid has been in his lair all season long, waiting for June to come before he packs his bags to play in his native France, that’s if a team is brave enough to acquire his calamitous services.

While we ponder on Mertesacker’s potential partner today, the Gunners are blessed with full backs that are ready to strut their stuffs once again.

New boy, Nacho Monreal received a rousing reception in his debut for his team and got some minutes under his belt in mid-week when Spain played Uruguay. Today’s match would be another test for the Spaniard as he continues to acclimatize into Premier League football. Sunderland has a very woeful pitch (gave Mertesacker a season-ending injury last campaign) but their wingers have become used to it, so Monreal will have to be on his toes.

On the other flank, Bacary Sagna’s form has plummeted downhill recently but the full back wants to get back to his best (via Arsenal.com),

“I’m going to be honest with myself – I’ve not been at my best.

“I’m not very happy with myself, but it’s football. It’s a part where I need to get better. I’ve been working since last summer but I need to work more because I’ve been out a long time.

“I didn’t really have a pre-season but at a high level you don’t have time to breathe. You have a game every three days and have to keep coming. I’m looking forward to coming back to my best.

I remember when I used to label Sagna as the football S.I. unit for consistency but since his return from his long-term injury, he hasn’t been the same person and there has been the issue of his contract dispute as well.

Sagna has to be mindful that he has an eager Carl Jenkinson waiting on the ranks so Arsenal can ill-afford any more lapses from the big Frenchman. He had a good game by his standards against Germany and he fought hard to well the threat Lukas Podolski posed in the game. Germany still ended up victorious in the contest though.

In midfield, Francis Coquelin has hamstring problems but the boss has confirmed that Ramsey is alright despite claims that he pulled out from the Welsh squad with a calf injury (via Sky Sports). In attack, Gervinho has returned to North London after his nation was ousted by yours truly, Nigeria, and he has been rested.

Many Gooners were happy to see the Ivorian leave for the AFCON especially after his legendary miss against Bradford City in the Capital One cup quarterfinal. To his encouragement, Gervinho had a good tournament, played really well and scored some well-taken goals as well.

Even if he has been rested today, I’d expect Gervinho to get cameo roles from the bench as the season progresses. Like Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, it will be very hard to displace Arsenal’s incumbent wingers, Lukas Podolski and Theo Walcott, judging from the output on the final third in recent times.

Podolski has scored a dozen goals for Arsenal and he currently leads the Premier League assists chart as well. Walcott on the other hand, has been a phenom this season and has banged in a personal best of 18 goals and counting. He has also supplied his lion’s share of assists as well.

The Gunners have conceded a boatload of goals in the first half of most Premier League games and we can only hope that the trend will stop as soon as possible. The last time out, the Gunners came up against a Stoke Rugby side that had no plans of attacking so a clean sheet was more than welcome.

Despite Sunderland’s aberration of a pitch, Arsenal has been fruitful in the club’s visits to the North East in the league with three wins and five draws in their last nine outings. Arsenal’s last visit to the Stadium of Light was a good one with King Thierry Henry scoring the winner right at the death.

Even though Arsenal has won 10 of their last 18 games against Sunderland, the Stadium of Light currently boasts of the lowest amount of goals conceded on a Premier League ground with 26 unlike the Emirates that has seen 51 goals go in from Arsenal and its opposition.

With half an eye on Arsenal’s long-awaited clash with Bayern Munich, Arsene Wenger will be hoping for his side to go into that game brimming with confidence, and a win against Sunderland would go a long way in building that confidence.

Here’s to a great game of football.

Sayonara.

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Arsenal 0 Sunderland 0: A Pretty Familiar Feeling

The buildup to this game was pretty frantic. Echoes of life after van Persie seemed to be the order of the day as the world held its breath in anticipation of the new look Arsenal take on a dogged Sunderland side.

As expected, Martin O’ Neill lined up five across the midfield to choke Arsenal in the middle of the park. Arsene Wenger featured a familiar side with replacements drafted in several positions.

Carl Jenkinson got the nod ahead of Nico Yennaris and there were season starting berths for Abou Diaby as well as new boys, Santi Cazorla and Lukas Podolski.

Sunderland had not defeated the Gunners in their home turf since the days Idi Amin ruled Uganda and with the squad lined up, that trend wasn’t going to change.

Sunderland drew first blood when James McClean was on the clear after the Arsenal defense went asleep. Wojciech Szczesny was on hand to make a fine stop. Santi Cazorla found himself on the edge of the area and he showed off his ambidextrity with a drilled left foot shot that was saved by Simon Mignolet in goal.

Gervinho went on a slalom run on the left that saw him evade many defenders before cutting the ball back but Cazorla got in Podolski’s way to fire his shot wide. Some intricate passing in midfield saw a chance open up for Diaby but his low drive was saved by Mignolet.

Despite Arsenal’s probing, Sunderland kept the hosts at bay as halftime beckoned with the scoreline intact.

Arsenal began the second half on a brighter note but Gervinho’s trademark decision making deficiencies played the better of him yet again.

Theo Walcott was a peripheral figure all game long but he did well to make a jinking run that saw him impeded by Kieran Richardson. Podolski blasted the resulting free kick over the bar. Gervinho drifted to the right and ran the length of the box before fashioning a chance for Cazorla but his half volley went wide.

Arsene Wenger played his cards by bringing on reinforcements to change the outcome of the game. Olivier Giroud, Aaron Ramsey and Andrey Arshavin came on for Podolski, Diaby and Walcott.

Ramsey also began like a house on fire with a tame shot with basically his first touch. A move that disgusted Giroud as he was in a better position to score.

The game eased off and Sunderland got the upper hand in terms of defending and pressing Arsenal. However, the chance of the game arrived when Cazorla tore the Sunderland defense to create a perfect chance for Giroud but the forward blasted his effort wide off the mark.

That was Giroud’s chance to make a statement but he offered the media Vultures another chance to ring the Robin van Persie bells again. This tweet by FourFourTom offers a food for thought,

“@FourFourTom: Instead of focusing on the one missed chance, look at Giroud’s movement to create the chance”

Chris Foy’s final whistle coincided with annoying yet understandable boos from the Emirates faithful.

Szczesny (6.5) was tested early on but he was relatively untroubled as the game progressed.

Vermaelen (7.0) was more mature with his forays forward and he also put up a good defensive performance in his first game at Arsenal’s captain.

Mertesacker (7.0) was a bit sloppy with his passing but he was steady in defense.

Jenkinson (7.5) made many perfectly timed tackles but his crossing was a bit erratic.

Gibbs (7.0) balanced his attacking and defensive play well.

Diaby (6.5) had a few good touches in the course of the game but there were moments when he dwelt on the ball when a pass was a better option.

Arteta (7.0) was industrious in midfield.

Cazorla (8.0) put up an imperious performance. He was ubiquitous in midfield, fired in a few shots and almost handed a match-winning assist to Giroud.

Walcott (6.0) was a peripheral figure on the pitch and he didn’t hit the ground running.

Gervinho (7.5) was very direct with his running but he really needs to work on his decision making.

Podolski (6.0) was isolated in attack and he’ll want to forget this game quickly.

Ramsey (6.5) didn’t put a foot wrong in his cameo appearance.

Arshavin (6.0) was a bit lackadaisical and his distribution was a bit atrocious.

Giroud (6.0) marked his debut with a miss that would give him nightmares.

It’s too early to start throwing stones on the players but they’ll have to do better in their next outing against Stoke.

Oh well, this was a pretty familiar feeling.

Sayonara

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Sunderland 2 Arsenal 0: Same ol’ Shit, Different Year

Oh oh to be a Gooner…

To be an Arsenal fan at this point in time requires a lot from the individual. You’ll have to gear yourself up for pleasure that goes hand in hand with a lot of pain.

Arsene Wenger assembled a squad that he felt was good enough to challenge for honors on all fronts. He lost three great players in the form of Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy and replaced them with players he felt were good enough in his eyes.

Arsenal has been out of contention for Premier League a long while ago, unfortunately ousted by Manchester City in the Carling Cup, a foot away from the Champions League and had only the FA Cup to fight for.

Arsene Wenger made three changes to the team that was spanked by AC Milan with “Cup keeper” Lukasz Fabianski replacing Wojciech Szczesny in goal while Francis Coquelin and Gervinho got the nod ahead of Kieran Gibbs and Theo Walcott.

Robin van Persie won a free kick early on but Mikel Arteta’s effort curled away from goal. With just seven minutes gone, Coquelin waltzed forward from the left hand side and twanged his hammy. Every Arsenal fan’s worst nightmare came through as Freddy Krueger in the form of Seb Squillaci came into the pitch to replace the injured Coquelin.

Van Persie showed off his intelligence by slotting an amazing through ball for Gervinho in behind the defense but the Ivorian’s effort was fisted to safety by Mignolet in goal.

Alex Song sent in another through ball that put the Sunderland defense on the back foot but John O’ Shea did enough to nick the ball past van Persie. Claims for a penalty fell on deaf Howard Webb ears.

With halftime looming, it became a familiar story as Arsenal became the plotters of their own downfall. Thomas Vermaelen gave a back pass to Johan Djourou but the Swiss defender panicked when he was closed down then he committed a clumsy foul.

Seb Larsson sent the free kick into Arsenal’s danger area but it wasn’t cleared to safety as Kieran Richardson blasted the ball sweetly into Arsenal’s net with Fabianski rooted to the spot. For those that didn’t know, the ball deflated off yours truly…Seb Squillaci.

James McClean had the chance to put Sunderland two up but his effort hit the side netting.

Everyone expected Arsenal to come out stronger in the second half but the Gunners were on the back foot again when Bacary Sagna committed a blatant foul but Larsson sent his effort over.

Wenger brought on Tomas Rosicky and Theo Walcott to replace the ineffectual Aaron Ramsey and the Squisha who picked up another injury to add to Arsenal’s defensive woes. Vermaelen got on the end of an Arteta cross but it was aimed straight at the goalie.

With the way the game was going, the next goal was certainly going to be of utmost importance to the team that scores it. Unfortunately, it came after another schoolboy error but it wasn’t from the regular suspects like Andrey Arshavin, Djourou or Squillaci. It came from Arsenal’s recent “sweetheart” Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

The Ox dallied on the ball and it was taken off him. A counter attack was launched and Stephane Sessegnon showed good stamina to shove off Mikel Arteta before teeing up Larsson. The Swede’s first timed effort hit the post but the Ox suffered the ignominy of an own goal as he bundled the ball past the goal line.

And that was pretty much Arsenal’s season. Another capitulation in grand style.

Fabianski (6.5) dominated his area well as he dealt with crosses well.

Sagna (6.5) was one of Arsenal’s better players but he could have done better in closing Richardson down.

Vermaelen (6.0) was half bad as a left back.

Djourou (5.5) committed the clumsy challenge that led to the first goal.

Squillaci (5.5) was shite again and showed how low Arsenal’s standard has been in recent times

Song (6.5) tried his best in a midfield that was crowded with number.

Arteta (6.5) made himself available for passes and did okay.

Ramsey (5.5) was an aberration.

The Ox (6.0) was quite disappointing and compounded his misery by conceding an own goal.

Gervinho (5.5) could get past his man and offered no threat down the left.

Van Persie (6.0) lacked service and was toothless in attack.

Rosicky (6.5) added some verve to the attack to no great effect though.

Walcott’s (5.0) only telling contribution was getting offside and he became peripheral all game long.

The only puzzling thing about this present crop of players is that they were assembled by the same manager that produced one of the greatest Premier League teams of all time, the Invincibles.

The only players in this team that could challenge for a first team place in the 2003/04 Arsenal squad are Sagna, Vermaelen, Wilshere and van Persie.

I’m pretty sure that the captain’s days are numbered except he wants to prove everybody wrong by showing his loyalty to the club. If not, I’m pretty sure that Wenger would sell him for £70m to Real Madrid then take a space shuttle trip to buy an unknown striker from Jupiter.

The quote of the day goes to @etyro:

“@etyro: Arsenal’s season ends today like it has for the past 3 seasons.. We can’t build castles with straws.”

Success isn’t permanent but failure isn’t fatal.

I am and will always be…

A Gooner for Life

Lest I forget,

The Arsenal Trophy-less Chronicles Season 7 is out in stores now. I also heard that it’s available on HD.

Sayonara

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Emmanuel Petit Chastises Some Gunners and Sunderland Preview

Football is a sport that has a rich vein of history and Arsenal is no stranger to this kind of season-defining fixtures because the club has been in similar situations in the yesteryear.

In the club’s inaugural season at the Emirates, Arsenal was languishing in 4th place in the league, was ousted from the Champions League knockout phase thanks to an Alex double in both nets (PSV) and were kicked out of the FA Cup by Blackburn.

Last season, it was a similar debacle when Barcelona did the damage in the Champions League while Manchester United broke Gunner hearts in the FA Cup.

Like both outcomes, Arsenal had nothing to play for as early as March and it could be a similar story if the Gunners allow the Milan disappointment to get the better of them in today’s fixture.

Speaking of disappointment, there’s an ex-Gunner legend that has expressed his frustration over the capitulation of a club he holds dear to his heart. This Gunner spent three magical years at Arsenal from 1997 to 2000 and he forged a telepathic understanding with Monsieur Vieira.

The former French pony-tailed sensation Emmanuel Petit has warned Arsenal to get rid of a host of their big names and sign six established players if they are to return to their former glories.

He has claimed that the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Andrey Arshavin, Tomas Rosicky and Theo Walcott are simply not good enough. Petit made a lot of quotes but I’ll have to summarize it to paint the picture vividly.

He started by saying that Arsenal hasn’t fully recovered from the departures of the creative Francesca and Samantha. He also said that the club’s shrewdness in the transfer window in recent times has made the level of the team go down.

Petit added that the club revolved its football around Francesca and the defense is still ‘under construction’. He also thanked the Heavens for Robin van Persie and reiterated that the young players haven’t done enough to justify the confidence that Arsene has in them.

He singled out some individuals for some criticism. On Theo Walcott, he said that the winger has been on the same level for years while he believed that it was Ramsey’s ‘twin brother’ that was on the pitch. He also wants the club to waves its goodbyes to Andrey Arshavin and Tomas Rosicky as their contracts would soon expire.

To top it all off, he ended his interview with this quote:

“What’s needed is five or six players of real stature, great experience. Players who are 27 – 30 years old at most. Players with technical qualities, obviously, but also strong character. A group of guys who refuse to accept defeat, who inspire confidence in the rest of the team.”

Moving over to the preview for today’s game, Arsenal visit the ground they played last week and would hope that the cattle has been moved away because the grazing took its toll on the pitch.

Historically, both sides are a bit shaky as Arsenal has won just two of their last seven FA Cup away games while Sunderland has two wins, two draws and two defeats in their last six FA Cup home games.

To team news, Arsenal will be without the center back pairing from recent weeks Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny. The Gentle Giant would be out for a while but efforts are in place to make the Kos fit for the North London Derby next Sunday.

The regular absentees like Jack Wilshere, Abou Diaby, Andre Santos and Carl Jenkinson are still nursing injuries while the King Thierry Henry will be watching this game from his TV set in the United States. However, Ivorian heartbreaker Gervinho is back in London following the end of the African Cup of Nations.

Sunderland’s defensive duo Titus Bramble and Wes Brown are still out but they’ll be glad to know that their captain Lee Cattermole is back from a hammy injury. Unfortunately, the self-proclaimed world’s best striker Nicky B won’t play because Arsenal still remains his parent club.

I expect Lukasz Fabianski to be given another run for his money while the defense will be composed of Kieran Gibbs, Bacary Sagna, Johan Djourou and Thomas Vermaelen. A game of this magnitude can’t be given to the likes of Ignasi Miquel or the walking time bomb Seb Squillaci.

I would also expect to see the boss tweak the midfield a bit by introducing Francis Coquelin in Aaron Ramsey’s stead. Alex Song and Tomas Rosicky would complete the midfield triumvirate.

With Marouane Chamakh, Gervinho and Park Chu-Young available for selection, they all have to be content with a place on the bench. I expect the forward three to be Robin van Persie, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

The schematic illustration of my expected lineup should be:

Fabianski

Sagna-Djourou-Vermaelen-Gibbs

Coquelin-Rosicky-Song

The Ox-RVP-Walcott

Enjoy the game wherever you are.

A great team isn’t measured by how many times they get knocked down. They are measured by how strong they are when they get back up.

Sayonara.

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