[ 2016-10-30 ]

Sunderland 1-4 Arsenal: Late 7-minute blitz floors Moyes’ Black Cats
A stunning seven-minute spell of football saw
Arsenal dispatch Sunderland 4-1 at the Stadium of
Light.

The Gunners had looked lazy in the second period
having gone ahead through Alexis Sanchez’s
first-half strike, allowing their hosts to
equalise from the penalty spot.

It turned out Jermain Defoe’s spot-kick was
exactly what Arsene Wenger’s men needed to spark
them into life, with substitute Olivier Giroud
grabbing a brace and Sanchez notching another to
put the match to bed, leaving Sunderland fans –
and David Moyes – looking devastated, as
relegation now looks a real possibility.

Under pressure from the off, the Black Cats barely
made a foray forward, as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain,
Mesut Ozil and Sanchez all troubled Jordan
Pickford with strikes.

And it was the latter who eventually broke the
deadlock with 19 minutes on the clock, beating
Lamine Kone in the air with a smartly-timed run,
nodding the ball past the Sunderland goalkeeper
from Oxlade-Chamberlain’s cross, while the
superb passing play prior to the assist was also a
striking sight in full flow.

Moyes’ struggling side nearly gave the perfect
retort, as a Patrick van Aanholt free-kick had
Petr Cech scrambling to cover his goal, but it was
soon the Gunners on the front foot again with
Sanchez a constant and impish presence.

Sunderland didn’t look toothless in a pacey
first-half, with Defoe a lurking menace as Duncan
Watmore and Wahbi Khazri attempted to feed the
ball through to the instinctive striker, but they
lacked real quality elsewhere across the pitch and
seem set for a long struggle against relegation.

A stunning lobbed ball to Ozil should have
resulted in a second for Arsenal but, with
Pickford off his line, the German failed to lift
his shot above the young Englishman.

To make Moyes’ afternoon worse, John O’Shea
was forced off through injury, while Khazri,
Didier Ndong, and Steven Pienaar were all
cautioned as they attempted to stop their
opponents’ drives forward.

As the second period wore on, Arsenal appeared to
lose focus allowing Ndong, Watmore and Defoe
chances, although none of them truly troubled Petr
Cech.

Sanchez was furious on the hour-mark, as Martin
Atkinson waved play on when he went down under a
challenge inside the penalty area.

And the Gunners were left ruing the drop in their
performance moments later as Cech felled a
scampering Watmore in the box, allowing Defoe to
slam home an equaliser from the spot.

Scoring, though, was the worst thing Sunderland
could have done, raising the Gunners from their
slumber, and it was forgotten man Giroud who did
the damage.

First, just two minutes after replacing Alex
Iwobi, he hooked an Oxlade-Chamberlain cross
beyond the reach of Pickford, before a flick
header from an Ozil corner made the score 3-1.

Then, to round off a stunning seven minute spell,
Sanchez was able to clip a shot home from inside
the six-yard box after Sunderland failed to clear
their lines.

Supporters at the Stadium of Light looked stunned
by the scoring spree, while Moyes sat motionless
on the touchline. He will know his team face a
real battle to avoid dropping into the
Championship.

Wenger meanwhile, will be delighted his side were
able to respond with such gusto to an equaliser
which threatened to derail their hopes of victory,
especially ahead of a Champions League clash with
Ludogorets on Tuesday.

Source - Citifmonline

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