Sunderland 0
Arsenal 2
Sanchez 30’, 90’
Man of the match
Alexis Sanchez
Sunderland’s defence were gracious to a fault on Saturday, with two awful mistakes handing Alexis Sanchez two excellent scoring chances as Arsenal won 2-0 at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.
A careless giveaway by Wes Brown on the halfway line gave Sanchez a free run at the Sunderland back line on 30 minutes, and the Chilean finished past Vito Mannone with a delicate chip.
Sunderland piled on the pressure for much of the second half and looked poised for an equaliser, but miscommunication at the back and a stumble by Mannone provided Sanchez a simple, stoppage-time tap-in.
Elsewhere, Liverpool’s hopes of erasing the memory of their thumping, 3-0 home loss to Real Madrid in the Uefa Champions League were spoiled as Hull City left Anfield with a 0-0 draw.
Mario Balotelli started and played 90 minutes for Liverpool but could not end his wretched run of recent form.
Southampton kept their surprise title challenge on course with a 1-0 home win over Stoke City. Saido Mane scored the winner in the 33rd minute, keeping his side second in the table on 19 points after nine matches.
Southampton are two points clear of Manchester City and three ahead of fourth-place West Ham United.
At the Hawthorns, Saido Berahino's 90th-minute penalty kick gave West Bromwich Albion a 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace. Brede Hangeland and Mile Jedinak had given Palace a two-goal lead at half time, with Victor Anichebe halving the deficit six minutes after the restart.
Any remaining grumbling from West Ham supporters about manager Sam Allardyce or his style of play was drowned out by celebration after a shock 2-1 victory over English Premier League holders Manchester City on Saturday.
Morgan Amalfitano staked West Ham to a 1-0 lead after 21 minutes at the Boleyn Ground. City came into the match and kept the hosts on the back foot, only for Diafra Sakho’s 75th-minute header that just crept over the goal line to double the deficit.
David Silva tempered the home fans’ celebrations with a stunning strike two minutes later, setting up a nervy finish. West Ham held on, though, pulling within a point of second-placed City and showing their presence in the Uefa Champions League places is more than a coincidence.
City manager Manuel Pellegrini has denied he is under mounting pressure after their pursuit of Chelsea in the title race was dealt a blow.
“I always feel the pressure exactly the same from the first day to today,” he told a news conference.
The West Ham defeat came after a torrid midweek Champions League fixture with CSKA Moscow in which the Premier League champions gave up a two-goal lead to draw 2-2.
Pellegrini denied his team was suffering a hangover from their Russian exploits, but was left to rue a series of missed chances by his usually prolific strike force during the loss to West Ham.
Sergio Aguero, who scored four against Tottenham Hotspur last weekend, spurned several chances, while Yaya Toure had one of those games where he looked more a passenger than a player.
Pellegrini said he retains trust in his players, but the ease with which West Ham’s strikers dismantled his expensively-assembled defence must be cause for concern ahead of next week’s visit of bitter rivals Manchester United.
Current league leaders Chelsea can open up an eight-point gap at the top of the table if they beat Manchester United on Sunday, but Pellegrini said he must keep his focus on his own team and not those around him in the table.
“We are just starting the season, we have 80 points left to play for. So it is early. We will continue fighting because there is no title being handed out at the moment,” he said on the BBC.
sports@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
