Arsenal 3 Sunderland 1
LONDON // It is often said that the overall quality of a team is best measured by the strength of its back-up options.
That theory was put to the test at the Emirates Stadium yesterday, when Sunderland took on an Arsenal side suffering from their customary autumn-time injury crisis.
With Santi Cazorla, Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott and Francis Coquelin among the high-profile absentees from the hosts’ starting XI, there were five players in Arsene Wenger’s line-up who would probably not make his first-choice team in the positions they played in.
With Aaron Ramsey and Mathieu Flamini deployed in the centre of midfield in place of Cazorla and Coquelin, Joel Campbell and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain deputising out wide instead of Sanchez and Ramsey, and Olivier Giroud continuing up front with Walcott only fit enough for the bench, the front six of the side was very different to the half-dozen that Wenger had seemed to settle on a couple of months ago.
As far as second strings go, it was far from the weakest in the division.
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Having taken the brunt of the blame for Arsenal’s injury problems, however, Wenger knew he would be criticised further if points were dropped at home to an in-form but relegation-threatened outfit.
That looked likely for large chunks of this encounter, even if Arsenal ultimately did enough to secure a vital victory that moves them up to second in the Premier League table.
The hosts took the lead through Campbell after another delightful assist from the majestic Ozil, but Sunderland were the better team throughout the first half.
Sam Allardyce’s charges sat deep in a 5-4-1 formation without the ball, with wing-backs Patrick van Aanholt and DeAndre Yedlin bursting forward whenever possession was turned over.
And Arsenal looked vulnerable to the counter-attack.
Arsenal also lacked fluidity going forward, their possession plentiful but their penetration paltry.
Playmaker Ozil dropped very deep to collect the ball off the centre-backs – a consequence of both Sunderland’s low defensive block and the absence of Cazorla – as Arsenal struggled to prise open a compact unit.
Sunderland’s equaliser just before the interval was therefore well-deserved, even if there was a fair amount of fortune to Giroud’s own goal.
Aspiring champions prove their credentials by responding well to setbacks, though, and Arsenal deserve credit for digging in to secure all three points after the break.
The ball was circulated quicker and, while Sunderland still threatened with their forays forward and Petr Cech made a number of essential interventions, Arsenal attacked with greater menace and fashioned the chances they had struggled to create in the first 45.
“I was more nervous than usual because I knew it was a very important game in our season,” Wenger said afterwards.
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“We were edgy in the first half against a well-organised team, but in the second half we showed mental strength, desire and more incisiveness in our game.”
Arsenal will face greatest tests in the coming weeks – starting with Wednesday’s make-or-break Uefa Champions League trip to Olympiakos.
Their injury issues were also laid bare by the fact that left-back Kieran Gibbs and centre-half Calum Chambers finished the match on the flanks.
Yesterday’s result was always going to be more important than the performance, however, particularly after Manchester City had failed to win as expected earlier in the day.
The title race remains wide open as the season approaches the halfway point. Arsenal may have more fitness woes than their fellow contenders. But after this gritty and spirited triumph, they have more points than most of them, too.
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