The Almighty Arsenal Beats Sunderland 4-1

If Arsène Wenger’s side continue playing as beguilingly as this there can be few complaints should they be crowned Champions next spring. By then Sunderland - who have only two points from 10 games - will probably be relegated but it should be stressed that David Moyes’s side were not all that bad on a day when they worked extremely hard.


It was just that every time the Wearsiders upped the tempo, Arsenal elevated it stratospherically higher as their hosts struggled to fathom the subtle sophistication of Alexis Sánchez’s attacking performance during a chastening 90 minutes during which both he and the similarly inspired substitute Olivier Giroud scored twice.

Moyes is adamant that, albeit incrementally, Sunderland are improving. They certainly started well enough with Wahbi Khazri - a disappointment so far this season but integral to last spring’s aversion of relegation - offering cause for real optimism down the right.

There was the cute dummy the Tunisia winger sold Mohamed Elneny, a couple of clever, half chance creating balls, to the overlapping Billy Jones and Jermain Defoe and a free kick curved fractionally wide of a post.

Encouragingly for Moyes, Khazri was not the only one upping his game and Sunderland’s manager looked on approvingly as Jack Rodwell clattered into Francis Coquelin. By then though Arsenal were already re-grouping after realising they would not necessarily be able to enjoy a stroll in the Wearside sunshine.

Worryingly for Moyes, Wenger’s players evidently resolved to rise to the challenge and their resultant improvement swiftly began rendering Sunderland’s bright beginning a cruel chimera. By half-time they had not only surrendered the majority of possession but failed to direct a single shot on target or even win a corner.