Sunderland took another big scalp at the SOL on Saturday afternoon beating Arsenal 1-0 thanks to a second half Darren Bent goal. Usually when sides beat a top four they ride their luck and the opposition create loads of chances, however this game was far from an Arsenal mugging as over the course of the game we created the better chances and were well worthy of the three points.

As it has been for the past month or so the squad is looking painfully thin and this weekend was no exception with the suspensions to Jones and Turner disrupting the side. Fortunately Cana returned in the centre and we went 4-5-1 with Fulop replacing the injured Gordon behind a back four of Bardsley, Da Silva, Mensah and McCartney. In midfield Reid left, Henderson, Cana, Richardson and Malbranque right. Darren Bent the lone striker hoping to get more service than he did for England last week.

To be fair Arsenal started the brightest and had the first chances with Fabregas firing wide and then Fulop doing well to gather a cross from Nasri. Our first effort came in a sweeping move when Cana found Richardson who crossed to the back stick for Malbranque who couldn’t keep his volley down. Malbranque had another effort moments later, but again this went over.

For all Arsenal’s movement and slick passing the defence did well with both Mensah and Da Silva brilliantly intercepting balls rolled in for Eduardo. Arsenal almost took the lead on half an hour with probably what turned out to be their best chance of the game. Eduardo crossed to the back post but the sliding Song couldn’t get his shot on target. Fabregas had a few long range efforts which didn’t trouble us and we went in at half time even.

After the break Sunderland really stepped it up roared by the red and white army which made for a good atmosphere although despite the Gunners bring a couple of thousand up I thought they were poor in terms of noise.

Andy Reid went close for Sunderland from long range after a strong challenge by Cana won the lads possession and then after a short corner Reid blasted another shot over. With half an hour to go Steve Bruce made the first change when Campbell came on for Malbranque whilst Arshavin came on for Ramsey. The game started to get stretched before Bent thought he was clean through on goal after Richardson’s pass but the linesman flagged him offside.

We won a corner with twenty minutes to go after Andy Reid bamboozled the French right back Sagna with great trickery and the resulting corner saw us take the lead. Reid crossed into the six yard box and the boll dropped to Bent who on the turn smashed in the loose ball to make it nine for the season. Keep doing that Darren and you’ll be in with a chance of getting in the squad for the World Cup despite the rubbish that’s been written about you this week about you blowing you chance.

With twenty minutes to go we were in that dilemma of do we go for it or try and defend the lead. Wenger made two changes with Walcott and Arshavin coming on for Vela and Rosicky. Arsenal centre half Vermaelen had an ambitious effort go just wide with a left foot volley before Cana clattered into Arshavin.

With ten minutes to go Zenden came on for Reid and Ferdinand replaced Mensah who wasn’t obviously up to the ninety minutes despite a solid display. Arsenal continued their passing game and twice rolled the ball across the six yard box which would have been a tap in had they had someone on the end of it. With four minutes of injury time added on we actually ended the stronger of the sides and Cana almost doubled the lead but Almunia did well to get onto his flick following Zenden’s cross.

Arsenal had a couple of desperate penalty appeals waved away as Sunderland continued to do well with Da Silva and McCartney managing to clear to safety. Worryingly we effectively played the last ten minutes of the game as Darren Bent picked up what looked like a hamstring strain chasing a long ball and we’d made all our changes.

So there you go another three points at home against a top four side and if only we could become more consistent against the lesser teams there’s no doubt we can’t have a good finish this season. Europe? Why not if we strengthen well in January I think we might be in with an outside shot.

Final Score: Sunderland 1- Arsenal 0

ALS Man of the Match: Paulo Da Silva

Aidan Crowe

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