On any given day you would expect Arsenal to overcome a lowly lying Sunderland when playing at the Emirates, but given the fact the Gunners have not managed a win in their last three games, and that the Black Cat’s seem reinvented under new manager Sam Allardyce, they will travel down to north London looking to make it three wins in a row.
The new Sunderland boss will be especially pleased with the team’s defensive record of three clean sheets out of five, and will no doubt set up his team to play to Arsenal’s injury ravaged squad while knowing Gunners boss Arsene Wenger knows he can afford a slip up against Sunderland if it helped him to achieve a win in their Champions League group decider against Olympiacos on Wednesday night.
Arsenal will of course still be favourites to win, but Wenger’s men will need to find a way around what will be a very well organised Sunderland defence which is why we are predicting Arsenal to win by a score of 2-0 at odds of 11/2 with BET365.
Team News
After having spent more than a month undergoing treatment, Theo Walcott is available for selection, but we feel rushing him back into the fray too soon would be a mistake so expect to see the England winger start from the bench.
Gunners Centre-Back Laurent Koscielny should be available despite picking up a knock against Norwich, while Kieran Gibbs is once again fit following a minor calf-strain.
Arsenal has though lost Alexis Sanchez and Santi Cazorla who now join Francis Coquelin, Danny Welbeck and Tomas Rosicky on the disabled list with none expected to play again until 2016.
Predicted XI: Cech; Bellerin, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Monreal; Ramsey, Flamini; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ozil, Campbell; Giroud.