Arsenal took three valuable points after a hard-fought, and very tight, win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light today.
There was good news as initially Laurent Koscielny was passed fit to start, but the French international suffered an injury in the warm-up and was replaced by Carl Jenkinson, with Bacary Sagna moving to the centre-half position.
There were early chances for both teams, with Theo Walcott forcing Mignolet into a smart save with a left footed shot, while Lee Cattermole was booked for a typically clumsy challenge on Ramsey in the build-up.
Moments later Walcott hit the target again, but once more Mignolet made the save. Sunderland were obviously instructed to get heavy tackles in, and when Carl Jenkinson responded in kind the youngster picked up a 9th minute yellow card.
Stephane Sessegnon provided a moment of danger when he ghosted past Monreal into the box, but his cross shot was cleared. Theo Walcott then broke well down the left but couldn’t find Aaron Ramsey with the final ball.
Olivier Giroud then had a chance to open the scoring. The ball broke to him in the box, he pulled away from the defenders and on his good side fired a shot which went inches wide. The game then settled down a bit with both teams finding it hard to make chances.
Aaron Ramsey fired in a great shot which deflected, but again Mignolet saved. Arsenal opened the scoring moments later. Jack Wilshere went on a great run through midfield, he flicked a ball to Walcott who held it, laid it off to Cazorla who drilled home a left-footed shot to make it 1-0.
Arsenal continued to dominate and make all the chances. It was almost 2-0 through Theo Walcott. Sunderland lost it in the left back position, Giroud played it across the top of the box to Walcott, he took a touch then fired a shot which went just wide of the near post.
Again, Mignolet was the hero after a Giroud run and pass fell to Ramsey but from point blank range the Sunderland keeper prevented Arsenal doubling the lead just before half-time.
In the opening minute of the second half Sunderland were looking for a penalty when Sessegnon dived past Monreal, the ref waved the appeals away but nor did he book the Sunderland man.
Arsenal suffered a blow after just 5 minutes of the half when Jack Wilshere went off after another industrial challenge which went unpunished by a yellow card. Abou Diaby replaced him.
As Sunderland stepped up the pressing, Olivier Giroud shot just wide from the edge of the box before Steven Fletcher shot wide after Aaron Ramsey was dispossessed in midfield. Sunderland’s best chance of the game.
Santi Cazorla was the next Arsenal player to shoot just wide, just before the Gunners were reduced to 10 men. Carl Jenkinson picked up his second yellow card of the game for a foul on Sessengnon, he could have no complaints, even if the referee was abysmal all game long.
Aaron Ramsey was shunted to right back, and Abou Diaby should have scored after being set up by Monreal but his sidefooted shot was straight at Mignolet. Cazorla then shot over the bar, before Theo Walcott hit the post. Theo was set up by Cazorla, keeper came out, he lifted it over him and saw his shot cannon back off the post.
At the other end Wojciech Szczesny made a brilliant save from Fletcher after the referee ignored an obvious handball on the edge of the area. And the Polish keeper kept Arsenal ahead making a wonderful save from a Fletcher header. From the resulting corner Titus Bramble put the ball wide from 2 yards after it had bounced around the six yard box.
The home side piled on the pressure, Arsenal brought on Miquel for Walcott, and should have scored more. Giroud failed to pass to Cazorla, and the Spaniard returned the ‘favour’ moments later, but some brilliant defending, particularly from Bacary Sagna saw us hold on and take the three points.
Phew!
Our new centre back was fantastic.
Watching Arsenal is becoming more and more comical each week.
Hands up if you shit yourself in the 2nd half.
Please, shut up, we played amazingly well in the first half, should have put the game to bed by then, second half wilshere went off injured, jenks was having an off day and got sent off so we defended ( fucking brilliantly mind you ).
It takes a special kind of person to ignore all thats positive and come out with criticism….a douche.
Or more accurately, a spud
What positives ?
Three full-backs playing in defence !
The world class pairing of Diaby and Ramsey in midfield !
You’re on your own balls. Used to get irritated with you talking complete bollocks every post but now it’s quite amusing the new ways you try and troll. If you are a genuine gooner then you can go in the piers morgan section.
You’re picking on Ramsey? Really?
You didn’t watch the game. That, and you didn’t think for yourself.
Next time, less cliche, more observation. Ramsey had an impressive game, worked extremely hard for the team, and had great positional sense.
Last time i checked the league table doesn’t include the starting line ups, just the 3 very well earned points….
i don’t give a fuck how many full backs were in the back four, we got 3 points…..
And you are bunch of losers who think finishing 4th is like winning a trophy.
No, we think finishing 4th means qualifying for the Champions League and the chance to play against Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Real Madrid, etc.
NOOO, finishing 4th means an extra £40 million for the board, and getting spanked by Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Real Madrid, etc. in the Champions League.
Balls, I think you’re nuts.
And you know, you don’t have to keep them both upstairs and between your legs. If you trade half of them for brains, you could keep those between the ears and keep the balls downstairs.
Much better arrangement, I can promise you.
Come on The Arsenal. Let’s make this a run.
Sir balls posts make me wanna sign up for a spurs blog and troll there so hard.
Sir Balls the spud is back again…
Only possible criticism is that we didn’t bury the game when we were on top. Otherwise, we clung on, won ugly, kept a clean sheet, fantastic from Sagna and Szczesny, what’s not to like?
You sir, I have watched from afar,…watched many comments, and watched reaction,…mate do you really hold the gunners to your heart???…i think not.
You come on here after every game, and dis our great club, yes sometimes i feel like giving up….but i never mean it……this is ‘The Arsenal’ and never doubt we are not better that any-other-team, we are THE TEAM…and yes fuck these ‘Irish’ (no offence blogs) so-called commentators on Setan-shitty-a (well an ex sp*ds c*nt) WE ARE THE ARESENAL!!!!
Away win. Fuck you Sir Balls!
Balls just fuck off. Nobody wants you here.
Blogs should ban this guy. Its sickening to read this shit after such a hard-fought and deserved win. It’s one thing to have a different opinion, but this is just awful awful cuntishness.
Fuck off.
I actually think you’re a true Arsenal fan having a wind up with your comments, no one could really be this stupid.
@sirball : how f**kingspud of you.
Szczesny and Sagna saved our skin, but I’d probably tip the keeper for MOTM.
Worrying how poorly we played after Wilshere left. Hope it’s not serious…
Well done to Arsene Wenger for playing Wilshire in every game since his come back and getting him injured again.
Wenger you have ruined our star player again.
I’m sympathetic to claims that Wenger has a tendency to burn out our midfield (because of a transfer non-strategy), but in this case you can only blame the absolute cuntery of N’Diaye and a completely inept referee, who seemed content to let Sunderland attack our players all game.
One other thing: The way Wilshere plays (his love of driving at defences, his love of getting stuck in) will always leave him susceptible to injury. Hopefully with experience, he’ll learn how to use his body more wisely.
We all saw the bandage around Wilshire’s thigh, Wenger played him knowing he was carring an injury.
Wenger you never learn from your mistakes.
@sir – you really are a hairy smelly sweaty shawcrossy pair, aren’t you
Alex, I know you love to lick hairy sweaty balls
Should we give Sagna a run as a CB??..Its not like any of our other CB’s have been outstanding
Our finishing lately has been atrociuos!!!
Giroud/Cazorla could’ve (should’ve) had a hat-trick each
@paddymac, Walcott too. But then again Sunderland wasted some good chances. too I blame their horrible excuse for a football pitch.
Bac MOTM? Thought Ramsey was fantastic today too, really gutsy (apart from the bit where he lost it in midfield and they nearly scored).
It’s nice to see that we have so many contenders for MoTM again, especially with Ramsey being mentioned. He seems to have turned a corner recently, good on him. Well done, Aaron !
Today’s performance should convince Arsenal that Sagna needs a 3 year deal – minimum. He was brilliant in the center, seemed to gain new life actually, and Jenkinson has some more studying to do. Jenkinson played well, well he made smart decisions, he just needs a couple more years with Sagna around to provide him that knowledge Jenkinson absolutely needs.
Anyone doubting Bacs credentials as an all round top geezer only need check out his Mrs…
The divine Ludivine…
Respect !
I’ll go as far as to say that our BFG looked a bit more on his toes on the left side of middle. The thing we all think he needs to go along with his excellent reading of the game: a bit more juice in his step.
I agree, it’s fantastic to see that it seems Sagna never really lost form; look how fantastic he played when he didn’t have to deal with the responsibilities of covering our entire right flank and feeding walcott’s play at the same time.
Bac S is reborn!
I had my fears because of his size…but he’s strong and wins more aerial duels than Per!
Agree bacs was brilliant, szez played great and all the grief Ramsey gets he done well even out of position at right back, were starting to look solid, another good away win lets catch the spud cunts
Jk
Nearly had a heart attack in the end. Great game though
Did you see how Wenger was understandably pissed off with Giroud around the 92nd mark when he went for glory, would have loved to hear what he was saying!
According to lip reading experts, he said VAT ZE FUCK IS ZAT?!
Santi, Nacho and Mikel looked at each other and said ‘Joder’
I think he said’ what the fuck was that’ and thank fuck for girouds sake that they dident score
It is this kind of performance that strengthens a team mentally… Talk about mental strength…COYG!!!
I think I just shit in my pants. In other words, I think I just “did the Rosicky”!
No you Gary Linekered yourself!
For those who do not yet know
Lineker shitting himself literally
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_PLu9KWNK8
Arise, Sir Chesney
Fuck any negativity great 3 points
There is something about red and white stripes. Turns men into blood thirsty orcs. Didnt expect this from MON to be honest. But whatever, serves the cunts right. I hope they go down along with the original orcs next season.
Yep good observation. It wasn’t only Lee Clattermole but also guys like Danny Rose. Fouling all the Arsenal players just because you’re on loan from spurs is a very very unprofessional thing to do, with a mentality like that he’s never going to make it in the Premier League, don’t be surprised in 3 years time if you hop in a taxi and there’s Danny Rose driving it.
but FUCK. Absolutely great defending, very satisfying at the final whistle.
One nil to the Arsenal!
Why must our wins come with multiple heart attacks
Confirmed: Sunderland are a pack of c*nts! Longest second half of my life. Is it just me or was the second half felt like 94min? 3 massive massive points.
ich hätte lieber poldi bei sunderland gesehn zb. als nr.26 naja sollte nicht sein .
der hätte nämlich mit sicherheit 3 tore erzielt gegen eine mittelmässige Arsenal abwehr.
Heute war unsere Abwehr wunderbar!
wut?
In the first half at least, Sunderland played dirtier than Stoke. Some of their tackling – that Cattermole tackle in the first minute in particular – was no different to what you see when you search Vinnie Jones on youtube. Of course though, they are brave lionhearts against cheating Arsenal, the FA’s perfectly nonpartisan referees would of course rather send off foreign players like the half-Finnish Carl Jenkinson!
Ye I was sweating me fucking balls off
My man of the match: Aaron Ramsey. Gut busting performance.
I completely agree.He was better than Jenks at RB.
toss up between him and sagna for me, i thought sagna just shaded it but hell they both deserve it.
Difficult to choose who played better, I think all of them played well. So proud of them.
COYG!!!
I think he had an excellent performance at right back but in midfield he lost the ball at a couple of crucial moments and should have put away his chance when one v one with Mignolet. Overall a good performance for Ramsey but for me Szczesny won us the three points.
If you forget that turnover in the middle of the pitch that should have led to a goal.
Ramsey is kinda sloppy, but he had a decent game today. Was kinda sad Podolski didn’t play.
He’s saving him for the Germans
Szcz had an amazing game also, to be fair
The most confident I’ve ever seen Kenny play. Well done.
Great result, sagna and sir scez men of the match, Can’t separate them. Some poor performances though,mainly up front but we got away with it and 3 points is all that matters at this stage. A real backs to the wall game from the boys. Proud of em.
Well I agree our finishing could’ve been better but kudos to our attackers for sharing the defensive burden during the second half. Great shift by Giroud again. And frankly, even with 10 men we had the better chances in the second half. It was team performance today and I loved it!
Agreed, could/should have scored 3 or 4. Still grinding out another 1-0 is good for the boys, hopefully they will learn building a run with these sort of performance is more important than winning 8-5 one week and drawing 0-0 the next.
I think Giroud will get a bollocking off Arsene for when he shot from outside the area in the last few minutes when he had men either side. Thierry would have run to the corner flag and passed to Bobby for five minutes.
Thank Bergkamp!!!
Nice seeing lads gut this one out. Sagna+ Szczesny men of the match for me.
The defending was great today. Sagna was immense and Ramsey did well at right back.
I think i speak for every when i say…
Phew.
I can speak for myself, Thanks you.
Thank sczcesny thank sagna.
If only we could have taken our chances wouldnt have been a struggle.Squad very limited for now hope it changes quickly.
Loved Arsene’s “The fuck was that?” yell
Szczesny and Sagna. Impressed. I like Giroud, a lot. But somehow I wanted his head on a guillotine when he didn’t pass the ball in injury time. Sheesh.
the best defensive performance of ourt season? Starting from the back four (three) all the way up to Giroud. Gallant gallant performance..
we really should’ve killed the game off though, really really indifferent finishing
Sagna, Ramsey, SZCZ: Heroes
Cazorla: Genius
2 consecutive cleansheets.. onwards and upwards
wau wie naiv ist euer fussballdenken . wer rennt wie ein irrer !! muss auch ein top fussballer sein.bei uns ist es so !! wer denkt wie sein mitspieler,denkt auch so wie der mitspieler gedacht hat.Nur so kann man seine mitspieler einsetzen und genauso denkt auch Poldi aber das ist im englischen fussball schlecht um zusetzen,deshalb bleibe ich dabei .Poldis einsatz für Arsenal ist und bleibt verschwendete Energie andere vereine würde sich die arme ausreissen um so einen denkenden Fussballer für sich zu haben.Carzola ,Arteta,Wilshere,Gibbs sind ebenfalls Top denkende Fussballer den Rest naja auf jeden fall bei Bayern München (… Read more »
And both without our captain
Worth noting how well we did in spite (or because) of Vermaelen’s absence.
I’m actually pointing out that two clean sheets without our captain is good news and not criticising vermalem
Sagna = “YOU SHALL NOT PASS”
defending apart from jenkinson’s horror show was immense.Very poor in the final third though.Skied many clear chances.Still 3 points and a job well done.
COYG!!!!!!
Fucking yessssssss! A hard fought three points and a clean sheet. Happy 🙂
Boy did we work for that! Well done the Arse.
I called the Jenkinson sending off as soon as he got booked. He needs to work on that. He’s a bit too keen sometimes, which I guess is a reflection of his commitment.
Should’ve actually won quite comfortably, but happy nonetheless. Just hope Jack is not totally fucked.
you weren’t the only one panini it was obvious he was going to get sent off with the likes of Johnson and Sessegnon running at him. Plus as you said his over keeness not sure thats a word ha
Could of had more goals to kill it off.. but good win all the same
I was hoping that Arsene would bring on Miquel for Jenks and put Bac at RB at half time. O’niell knew cattermole was in danger of being sent off and took him off. Seeing as we got the win anyway it doesn’t matter much but I think we all saw the red coming!
Don’t think Wenger would’ve played him for any of our next three games so I think it was a risk he was willing to take; having received the red, and a few more minutes of playtime to review, hopefully Jenkinson only grows stronger from this experience. Hopefully Podolski rested today will also mean Giroud gets some well-deserved rest and stays on bench as a backup for our game against Blackburn coming up
Agree completely about Jenks, as soon as he got the first yellow, I just knew he wasn’t going to get through the game. Objectively, he completely deserved it.
What has me raging deep inside is that if the ref had held Sunderland even close to the same standards, they could have had what? 2, 3 red cards
Sagna = LANCB. Like a new centre back.
Hope Jack is okay.
Sagna, man of the match performance, SZCZ, stood up and saved the day, Ramsey, never stopped working. Brilliant performance from the team today. The only thing missing was some clinical finishing but when thats not happening, you’ve got to keep it tight at the back, and that was one of our best defensive performances since earlier this season! Keep it going! Up the Arse!
Sagna MOTM…wow so much for worrying about Djourou going on loan.
Wow, Sagna was a monster!
Worst ref of the season?
They do seem to keep getting worse and worse each match.
Arsene earlier in the week stating that the refs in English football aren’t cheating, ever. He should have been followed up with the question: “Then how do you explain some of the referee performances this season?”
“Incompetence!” A determined Arsene could return.
that ending was immense I think I did a sp*rs in my underwear lol
whoever doubted Sagna’s commitment get off this blog because that he really was playing for the Arsenal badge and speaking of heroics hope Jack isnt out for too long because we are going to need him for the Bayern game !
I will look past that horrible finishing at the end :/ we could of won 4-0 !
Hope taking Wilshire off was just a precaution 🙁
Wow wow wee wow.
oh and fuck sp*rs for winning
Bacary sagna is the best CB in Arsenal Football Club!
“At the other end Wojciech Szczesny
made a brilliant save from Fletcher
after the referee ignored an obvious
handball on the edge of the area. ”
This pissed me off so fucking much!
MOTM Bramble, with his miss from a couple of yards. That was as big as Szczesny’s save near the end, but the points are in the bag and we march on. Go on you lovely reds!!!
Great name!
Damn, this match report was up quick. The first half was one of our best this season. We did squander a lot of chances but all that matters are the 3 points. Two consecutive 1-0’s. Come on Arsenal. 12 more games, let’s go on a winning run now, Spuds will have a nervous breakdown soon. We can still get 3rd place.
wenn das für dich das beste war !! dann muss ich echt sagen ! schlaf weiter ,denn du hast mit sicherheit keine ahnung von fussball oder !!!?? vielleicht mag das in eurer liga so sein aber nicht beim DFB.
judging on your German I can’t tell whether you’re English, used Google translator and made a pointless comment or you’re German, don’t speak your mother tongue very well and made pointless comment. the bottom line is a pointless comment..
Na ja, mindestens heute, wir haben drei punkte gewonnen !
I hope it’s google translate, nobody talks like that, unless he had a series of serious reoccurring childhood events that led to you having low self-esteem and trying to speak like a german poet but miserably failing to do so.
Nice name though
Yes prinzpoldi, stop it with this bollocks now.
Any one of Czszesny, Sagna, Ramsey, Wilshere or Cazorla could be man of the match.
Szczesny not Czszesny!
by the way,you know that ‘szczesny'(in polish ) means ‘lucky man’ or somebody who ‘bring a luck to others’?!
yeah,yesterday he was very lucky!!
great performance of our keeper and I expect more to come..
I agree,anyone of them …
…just dont understand,why Giroud played to the end?!!
Mignolet is a fantastic keeper and I’ll always remember him for his amount of saves against any given arsenal match. but today I think Szczes out-saved him.
Sagna, Ramsey, Giroud- take a fucking bow lads! That’s how you ‘put a shift in’
Can’t forget Sir Chesney with those clutch saves.
Phew… Arsenal made enough chances to win three games let alone one. Sunderland were lucky to be only one goal down and they did y create much until they were man up.. In the end fully deserved 3 points and now even out makeshift defence is performing well..upwards and onwards.
I am soooo happy people are finally giving Ramsey the credit he deserves. People on the other websites are killing the poor kid. He was most definitely one of the best performers.Men of the Match: WS,Bagna and Rambo.
Finally a real “we give a shit” performance. Ramsey, Szczeny, Sagna, Wilshire, Arteta and Cazorla all of them played exceptional. If we fight like that we will finish top 4.
We are now a first half-team!
Good with some change now and then..
Couldnt watch but i was following the liveblog, sounds like it was a battle in the 2nd half. And it sounds like Szcz earned his wages this week.
Lets hope jack’s ok.
There is no sweeter victory than 1-0 to The Arsenal.
Or a 5-2 against spuds
Wenger moment of the day :-
92min- giroud ‘i shoot like an ostrich’ shot over the bar
Wenger (furious) ” WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT? WHATTHE FUCK WAS THAT?”
Someone get a gif of this so I can see what he’s talking about 😛
please
A nervous tinny win and 3 precious points made a really happy chinese new year! COYG…
Giroud plays the defensive role better than RVP.
Ref, linemen and all the Sunderland players a complete bunch of fucking cunts. Fuck them all.
I celebrated almost as hard as I did in our game vs Barca after AA23 scored.
Ramsey and Sagna were immense.
Chezzers was a giant.
And Giroud a HFB. Better at the back today then the front, but he was getting tired.
Fantastic performance coupled with a deserved result.
Just hope that the Kos and Jack injuries are not too serious now. Also need to work on some of the bloody finishing!
For all those saying that we were poor without Jack, even with 10 men I still think we carved out the better opportunities in the second half. We started to dominate well by the end of the first half and after the red card it became much more of an even contest with both teams going for it.
Holy shit that was stressful. The combination of Sunderland being utter, utter cunts, the ref also being a complete cunt & listening to Setantas’ horrendous & biased commentary almost resulted in a heart attack. Thank fuck for that!
Word.
Mate commentary week in week out is insufferable doo-doo stains on every conceivable level.
Theo… at 100K/week you’ve got to bury that son.
Massive three points. Epic shift from Sagna. Relief.
What a stupid comment to make regarding the salary. Some people never ever can see beyond the salaries…
Sorry mate but I agree with Yank. 100k, you have to fucking BURY a chance like that. Bury it like a dog burying his massive juicy bone to hide it from the other pussies. Bury it like an ostrich plunging its noggin into the sand with ferocious ferocity. Bury it like Snoop Dogg’s bone in da booty. And – of course – bury it like a motherfucking undertaker.
Wenger is a bloody genius. He played Rambo in the wings to develop his attacking skills and then played him in the holding mid role to develop his vision and defensive skills and now plays him as a centre midfielder where he attacked and defended well.
If that is true – it’s called Training By Fire – and takes time, but the end result can be quite awesome.
I normally don’t give a flying F about thumbs-up or down, but how can ANY Arsenal fan give a thumbs down to an Arsenal player getting better through hard work and progressive play? No one ever said that Ramsey’s training was complete – the statement was that the type of training CAN produce awesome results, not that those results have already been obtained.
Either way – bugger off!
Normal ‘1-Nil to the Arsenal’ celebrating may now resume…
RAMSEY is ARSENAL through and through……….gave his all today
Arsenal should provide fans hhealth insurance…
It’s called Baccary Szczesny Inc. Haven’t you signed up already?
Fucking brilliant name. That and also someone’s use of the phrase “Lee Cuntermole” really tickled my funny bones, ribs and penis today!