Sunderland 0 – 1 Arsenal: Szczesny’s late heroics keep Arsenal in the Top 4 chase

Arsenal held on to a 1 goal lead in a pulsating encounter at the Stadium of Light. The Gunners were down to 10 men for the last half an hour after Carl Jenkinson was sent off for his 2nd yellow.

Wenger was forced into changes due to injury woes in the defence. Sagna shifted to centre back with Koscienly pulling out late. Jenkinson came in at right back with Monreal and Mertersacker filling the remaining slots. Podolski and Chamberlain were left out as Cazorla started on the left with Ramsey coming into the centre.

Martin O’Neil did not start new signing Danny Graham but started another one N’Diaye. Johnson and Colback were accompanied by the returning Cattermole in midfield with Fletcher and Sessegnon in the attacking 3rd.
Cazorla is no left winger, No. 10 Jack

The game started at a break neck speed with both teams having scoring chances within the first 2 minutes. Cattermole, as usual, was booked within the first few minutes of the game. Theo Walcott immediately got into his recently found shooting mode, and troubled Mignolet many a time early on.

Wilshere was returning from a brilliant performance against Brazil and he continued in the same note here. Playing much higher up the pitch than Wednesday, Jack coolly slotted into the No.10 role. With Ramsey and Arteta playing much more deep, both Wilshere and Cazorla were provided all the freedom to express themselves.

Though Cazorla’s drifting to the centre allowed Arsenal to create much more, the left wing became completely isolated in attack. Newcomer Nacho Monreal was left confused due to Cazorla’s absence ahead of him, and the Spanish left back rarely provided an attacking outlet on the left.

Though Cazorla was unavailable for wing plays on the left, the Spaniard provided good cover for his Malaga colleague in defense. He rarely let Gardener venture in attack from right back.

But still, many of Sunderland’s attacks came from this flank. Sessegnon started the game in a wide right position high up the pitch. This not only kept Monreal away from the attack, but the full-back was pulled all across the place by Sessegnon. He got in behing Monreal on many occasions and the Black Cats ought to have converted 1 of those crosses.

Martin O’Neil started his new signing N’Diaye in an advanced midfield role. N’Diaye was known as a box to box player at Bursaspor, but here he was able to use his physicality against Arteta well. N’Diaye was one of the lone shining points for O’Neil in the first half where his players were fazed out of the game after the first 10 minutes.

Arsenal’s success in this half again was due to Jack Wilshere’s presence in the centre. Playing against the tough tackling Cattermole and Colback, Wilshere fought back well and imposed himself well in reply. Arsenal’s recent patterns have been to form triangles in midfield and then have Wilshere burst through the midfield and feed off Walcott.

The same move happened again, only this time Theo was intelligent enough to lay it off to Cazorla. Ramsey was having a low profile half, but the Welshman found himself in a definite scoring chance in the 46th minute.

The 2nd half started in similar fashion, but Sunderland showed much more intent now. Larsson was brought on in the hole behind the striker with N’Diaye moving deeper. Johnson shifted wings to the right with Sessengnon on the left. This change was quite effective in hindsight as Johnson had not been able to get past Jenkinson earlier, and Sessengnon would successfully breeze past the young defender later on.

Jack Wilshere had to come off after a knock to his knee. The game turned completely at this moment, as Sunderland got a major mental boost majorly due to the lethargic arrival of Abou Diaby. Diaby has never been the quickest on his feet and the Frenchman again was not able to provide the spark that Wilshere had.

Cazola shifted to a central role with Diaby shuttling on the left. Again there was no outlet in front of Monreal and now Diaby rarely was able to provide sufficient cover for the left back.

Sessegnon came alive in this 2nd half and took on Jenkinson with ease. The right back naively slid in for his 2nd yellow and this left Wenger’s men with half an hour of struggle left. Ramsey slotted into right back and the Welshman incredibly looked much more comfortable here.

The rest of the game was a display of incredible last ditch defending by Arsenal and immensely inspired attacking by Sunderland. Martin O’Neil brought on Graham immediately after the sending off, and with 2 strikers upfront, the Black Cats looked much more dangerous.

Bacary Sagna and Szczesny put in fantastic shifts tonight, especially the latter who singlehandedly kept out the home team on 3-4 occasions. Not to be left out Bac Sagna proved a point for some Arsenal fans tonight. The Frenchman has been widely criticized this season, and quite rightly so; but tonight the make shift centre back out-jumped Fletcher to every ball. With Fletcher being one of the best headers of the ball in the game, this display by Sagna would give Wenger more options in the future.

This match was a must win for Wenger’s men and their performance especially in the last half of the game will go a long way in boosting their confidence. The fact that Wenger did not have sufficient cover in defensive positions will certainly raise questions over Djourou’s move away on loan.

Martin O’Neil has a big job at his hands to motivate his team. They were dreadful in most of the first half and the only fact that inspired them was Wilshere’s departure. N’Diaye seems to a useful player for the Black Cats and should definitely be used higher up the pitch by O’Neil.

Top of the match: Bacary Sagna (just tipping over Szczesny)

Flop of the match: Carl Jenkinson