Sunderland Trick Or Treat??

     

Arsenal Train Ahead of Sunderland Courtesy Arsenal.com

Fresh of the back of a midweek win against Reading, the Arsenals Train grinds down for a quick stop at Sunderland this Saturday in an early kickoff, it’s been a bright rebound for the gunners since the season kickoff defeat at the Emirates, Unbeaten in 8 league games so far and 13 in all competitions. The form book is definitely with Arsenal despite the slight stuttering performance of late. On the other hand, the stadium of light has been anything but bright since the start of the season, no wins in 9…hopefully 10 matches, only 2 points from two draws. it’s like Halloween has well and truly made its home there darkening any potential reasons for light. Their last two games saw them put up spirited fight against West Ham and then Southampton in the League cup but still ended up losing by a lone goal. That has been the story of David Moyes team so far, conceding late goals and throwing away hard to come by leading positions. I for one don’t think David Moyes has helped his case, going by some of his unsavory comments has made recently. When your coach says:

“Ultimately you have to have good players on the pitch and at the moment we are not getting good enough players on the pitch. We need to get a better team it’s as simple as that. We need to get a team which can give us results”…

Quite harsh if you ask me, he basically says the current players aren’t good enough to get them the results he needs. That’s some curious way to motivate ya players to play for you…..ask Mourinho he is a specialist in blaming his players and everyone he could but himself. Having said all that Defoe is still a threat @34 and Arsenal has kinda staggered over the line in the league of late too. We narrowly beat Burnley, then Stalemating at the borough hurdle last weekend. It’s not been the vintage Arsenal we have come to start enjoying of late, maybe due to the number of games coming in thick and fast are beginning to pile up. There was that missing bit of our “special zip” in our last game against Middlesbrough. 

   Our Injury list has added Perez into its scalps with him being out for about 6weeks due to an ankle injury from a nasty tackle by Reading’s Gravenberch while there are doubts over Walcott, Nacho and Santi, who are key men. On Perez, I am sure the young man is gutted by the setback just when you sensed he was starting to get some game time. It’s not all bad new though as we have Giroud back and Ramsey is on the cusp of returning fully. The Beauty of this scenario is it gives Wenger food for thought. Does Giroud come back to spearhead our attack or does Wenger continue with what’s worked thus far, Alexis up top or do we just go with both as a front two? Whatever the answer is, we have some form of competition for starting berths and this new fight for places is good for the Gunners. Arsenal has so far been without Ramsey, Giroud and Welbz yet we sit joint top, granted that its early days, but, you have to admit the times are looking much better than what we used to have…….Giroud as our only strike option, without quality backup. Now Iwobi is emerging, even Sir Alex Ferguson was quoted saying he had been impressed by the young lad. Will the Ox also look at Walcott and fire up his guts for glory by becoming more consistent? Arsene claims his problem is within himself, a fragile confidence it seems. Whatever the team we are putting out, I hope we get the treat end of Halloween by claiming 3 points. If  you look at Sunderland, they seem to be currently in a rut that I would want Arsenal to take advantage.  A win for the us, add another clean sheet and use the chance to rack up our “goals for” column cuz that might decide places later on in the league. The predicted line is below depending on injuries prevailing.

Subs:  Ospina, Giroud, Jenkinson, Rene Adelaide, Walcott, Ramsey.

Image Credit: The Uk Guardian

 Anyway I hope for a win whether by a lone goal or by a floodgate of goals, it dont matter. Dont forget to like comment and share,  enjoy the game wherever you are.....Ciao