Arsenal thrashed Sunderland 4-1 at the Stadium of Light on Saturday. Here are the full highlights.
Arsenal were left frustrated against Middlesbrough last week, forced to settle for a 0-0 draw against a relegation candidate. The fear was that Sunderland would present a similar threat, tough to break down and dangerous on the break.
Those fears were quickly allayed when Alexis Sanchez scored a powerful header in the 19th minute.
However, as the game wore on, Arsenal failed to capitalize on their dominance.
When Duncan Watmore was brought down by Petr Cech to win Sunderland a penalty, expertly converted by Jermain Defoe, it looked as though the Gunners may fail for the second week running to put away lesser opposition.
Then Olivier Giroud happened. The French forward, recently returned from a long injury layoff, scored twice in five second-half minutes off the bench to restore the Gunners’ dominance.
The first was a close range volley, assisted by left-back Keiran Gibbs.
The second was a looping header from a corner. Giroud has received his fair share of criticism as an Arsenal player, but certainly provides a different dimension to the attack when he’s on the pitch.
With the game at 3-1, Sunderland more or less fell apart, and Sanchez added a fourth shortly after.
The win moves Arsenal into first place, three points ahead of both Manchester City and Liverpool, who play later in the day on Saturday. The Gunners rode their luck at times — Cech, in particular, was lucky to stay on the pitch — but this was a comfortable win in the end.
Sunderland, meanwhile, remain stuck on two points, the only team in he English Football League without a win all season. These are seriously worrying times for David Moyes, who surely needs a win soon to keep his job. This is now the worst Premier League start ever for the Black Cats, which, well, that speaks for itself.