Match Day Thread Sunderland vs. Arsenal 2016/17 Official Match Thread

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Venue: Stadium of Light
Saturday, October 29th 2016
KO TIme: 12.30 BST

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Head to Head Against Sunderland:
Played: 145
Wins: 58
Draws: 41
Losses: 46
Goals For: 231
Goals Against: 196
Goal Difference: 35

Last 6 Meetings:
Sunderland 0-0 Arsenal
Arsenal 3-1 Sunderland (FA Cup)
Arsenal 3-1 Sunderland
Arsenal 0-0 Sunderland
Sunderland 0-2 Arsenal
Arsenal 4-1 Sunderland​

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Arsène Wenger has revealed the latest team news ahead of Saturday's Premier League clash against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
on the latest team news…
From Tuesday night we’ve lost Lucas for a while with an ankle injury. I think he’ll be out for six to eight weeks. We have Giroud back available and Aaron Ramsey will be in the squad. We are [almost] in November, they have not played so it’s good to have them back. We have a few uncertainties over Walcott, Monreal and Cazorla, but they will all have tests today.

on Giroud and Ramsey…
They are available for selection. I have to be a bit cautious, especially with Aaron Ramsey, because he has not played at all yet. He has only had one week with the team so I will be a bit cautious with him.

on Lucas getting injured just as he was getting more minutes…
Yes it’s very frustrating because he worked very hard to get there. Of course he is absolutely gutted, because it’s an injury coming from nowhere, and a stupid one, because it was a deliberate kick. It’s a similar tackle to [the one from] Xhaka [against Swansea], but there was no red card. But the red card would not have helped Lucas. What is most important is that he’s out for six to eight weeks.

on whether Theo Walcott is ill…
No, he is not ill. There is a slight hamstring alert, a very minor one. He will have a test today.

on whether Theo will be available to face Ludogorets…
He should be OK for Tuesday. If it’s not tomorrow, it’s OK for Tuesday.

on Nacho’s injury…
He has a little muscle tightness.​

 

Sunderland are in disarray and already looking like favourites for the drop. But they will be looking for a big performance against us, so this might not be a walk in the park. I think we need to come out of the blocks at full tilt in this one and try and score a couple before HT, that should keep Sunderland at arms length for the rest of the game and give us another 3 points. Hopefully Walcott, Cazorla and Monreal are fit for this one.

 

I was utterly astonished to see the team they put out against us on Wednesday, knowing they had an early Saturday kick off.
I think you are going to have an unusually easy day against them, Moyes has lost the plot big time. I fully expect a couple of key players for them to pull up with injuries over the next couple of weeks (Defoe would be a death blow), which will leave them too much to recover come January.

 

It's all very quiet around here. Hoping to maintain our momentum...

 

Monreal could do with a game on the bench after his recent performances

 

No Cazorla = going to be a slog.

Fortunately we seem to be less pedestrian away from home so that may help. But still too much squad filler on the pitch.

 

Just switched on. Where's Walcott? Injured?

 

Only got updates on my phone. But that sounds like it was a cracking goal from Sanchez !

 

Wenger said yesterday that he had a small issue with is hamstring. He'll be back for ludogorets on Tuesday though

 

Ok, I was worried it was another long term one.

 

God...this Sunderland team have got to be one of the worst premier league teams ever.
They could possibly be the worst top flight team in England in my life time.

 

I was about to disagree with you but based on their start so far, I can't think of a worse team.

 

When we beat them 1 nil a month or so ago it was the most 1 sided 1 nil you could see but I gave them the benefit of doubt as they were away from home but that half was equally one sided.
They barely made it out of their half in the last 20 mins of that half.
Really feel for their fans...they are in for an awful season.

 

As Big Daddy would say "easy". We've played some lovely stuff and should be a few ahead. The goal was some nice link up play. I'd like to see Giroud and Ramsey come on to get some game time and kill off the game. It's a shame Perez is injured as I could have seen him score in this game and get some momentum.

 

Very scrappy start to the second half,really need to get a second goal to put this to bed.

 

Good ball from Ozil but Ox fluffs his lines.

 

Glad I haven't jumped on the Chamberlin hype train. Same old from him.

 

There,s a f-----g shock. Only we can do this.

 

What a complete and utter f--k up.

 

We ****ed this up ourselves. Not shocked.