Arsenal reclaimed top spot from Manchester City for a few hours at the very least, courtesy of a solid 4-1 win over a poor Sunderland side that barely offered any source of resilience in front of a very disappointed packed house at the Stadium of Light.
Arsenal made a couple of changes to the side that failed to beat Middlesbrough last weekend with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Kieran Gibbs replacing the injured duo of Theo Walcott and Nacho Monreal. The Gunners also welcomed back Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey to the subs bench, a welcome return for Arsene Wenger.
Arsenal were the dominant side right from the off and took a deserved lead in the 19th minute with Alexis Sanchez planting a diving header into the back of the net after a classic 22 pass move which ended with the Ox putting in a terrific cross for the Chilean to finish.
Arsenal should have been out of sight in the first half itself with Mesut Ozil and Alex Iwobi guilty of missing gilt edged chances with Jordan Pickford doing a decent enough job in between the posts for the home side.
For a while it looked like it was going to be one of those days for Arsenal, who were unlucky to be denied a penalty just after the hour mark after former Chelsea defender Papy Djilobodji brought Sanchez down inside the box. Back up the other end, Duncan Whatmore won Sunderland a penalty after colliding with Petr Cech's shoulder as the keeper tried to pull out from a challenge with Laurent Koscielny ahead of the Black Cats forward ready to mop up.
Jermain Defoe, so often the man for Sunderland last season, stepped up to convert the spot kick and despite having dominated the game, Arsenal found themselves back on level pegging at 1-1.
Fortunately for Arsene Wenger, he had Olivier Giroud to call upon today, and the French striker delivered immediately scoring with both his first and his second touch of the game to put Arsenal back in front.
A left wing cross from Kieran Gibbs was tapped home by Giroud, before his looping header from a corner 5 minutes later also beat Pickford. And then 2 minutes later Arsenal killed the game as a contest with Alexis Sanchez grabbing his second after another substitute Aaron Ramsey had just hit the post.
A 7 minute spell saw Arsenal score thrice and knock the stuffings out of both Sunderland and their fans as the Stadium of Light emptied in a hurry.
The win sends Arsenal 3 points clear of Manchester City and Liverpool early on Saturday, while Sunderland find themselves at the opposite end of the table, rock bottom.
Up next for the Gunners is the small matter of a North London derby when Tottenham come visiting on 5th November.
Teams:
Sunderland: Pickford, Jones, Kone, O'Shea (Djilobodji 42'), Van Aanholt, Watmore (Gooch 84'), Rodwell, Ndong, Pienaar (Januzaj 70'), Khazri, Defoe.
Subs: Djilobodji, Mika, Manquillo, Anichebe, Love, Januzaj, Gooch
Arsenal: Cech, Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Gibbs, Coquelin (Maitland-Niles , Elneny, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Ramsey 77'), Ozil, Iwobi (Giroud 69'), Alexis
Subs: Ospina, Gabriel, Holding, Jenkinson, Maitland-Niles, Ramsey, Giroud
Final Score: Sunderland 1-4 Arsenal (Alexis 19' 78', Defoe pen 65', Giroud 71' 76')
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