Sunderland vs Arsenal Last Minute Preview

Hello folks!

We have a tricky game against Sunderland today. Remember last year when we had a similar great start to the season, only to lose unexpectedly at the Stadium of Light after the international break. As Cesc has pointed out, this fixture always happens to come up at time when we our players had to play midweek and there is not much rest for us between. But if we continue in the same vein as in our last few matches and take our chances, we'll be fine, but Sunderland won't make it easy.

Here's the team news:


Sunderland(4-4-2): Mignolet, Onuoha, Bramble, Ferdinand, Richardson, Elmohamady, Riveros, Meyler, Malbranque, Welbeck, Bent. Subs: Carson, Bardsley, Zenden, Da Silva, Reid, Colback, Gyan.

Substitutes: Carson, Bardsley, Zenden, Colback, Gyan, Reid, Da Silva


Manager: Steve Bruce

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Formation view:

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                                                         Mignolet

Onuoha                     Bramble                                Ferdinand                     Richardson

Elmohamady             Riveros                                Meyler                       Malbranque

                                 Bent                                 Welbeck
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Arsenal (4-2-3-1) Almunia, Sagna, Koscielny, Squillaci, Clichy, Song, Wilshere, Fabregas, Nasri, Arshavin, Chamakh

Substitutes:  Fabianski, Vela, Eboue, Gibbs, Djourou, Denilson,Rosicky

Manager: Arsene Wenger

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Formation view:

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                                                             Almunia

Sagna                        Koscielny                                       Squillaci                   Clichy

                                          Song                       Wilshere

     Nasri                                       Fabregas                                        Arshavin

                                                         Chamakh

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Tactics:

Goalkeeping: Almunia has been performing ok and he got a clean sheet in the Champions League match. Hope it happens again but it won't be so easy as in the game against Braga.

Defence: Squillaci and Koscielny seem to have settled in just fine. Another blemish less display from our back four would be great. We need to be alert in all dead ball situations.

Midfield: Midfield will be key to today's outcome as Arsene has named an unchanged line up from the one that defeated Braga on Wednesday. Hope Cesc continues his great form and the others are still sharp enough to take up their usual offensive and defensive positions and move the ball around quickly.

Attack: Will be great if Chamakh opens his away goals account today. We should make use of his aerial prowess if we aren't creating good chances from the ground.

Subs: Ideally, I'd bring on Vela, Denilson and Rosicky. Hope Vela scores again today(although it will be tough).

Final Prediction:

A tight 2-1 win for Arsenal.