Raya and Arsenal exorcise Sunderland demons to show strength of champions
Arsenal’s last Saturday night in Sunderland highlighted the flaws that many thought would stop them from winning the Premier League title. Tonight’s illustrated why they might p*ss it this time.
The Gunners scored twice on a chastening trip to Wearside last November before being denied at the death by Brian Brobbey’s late leveller that triggered the usual long-term doubts over their title credentials.
Returning to the Stadium of Light as champions, Arsenal showed how far they have come. Winning the Premier League dispelled those doubts, but beating Sunderland 2-0, and the hard-fought manner of their victory, illustrated an authority their rivals will struggle to match.
Indeed, those questions that dogged Arsenal for so long must now be asked of those around them. The Gunners now are the only sure thing towards the top of the league this term.
Their first show of force in the North-East came in the form of their team-sheet. Just as he did in midweek at Napoli, Mikel Arteta made four changes to freshen and rotate his side without having to fret over a drop in quality or intensity.
The starters were strong; the finishers were stark. Arteta had £360million-worth of replacements ready to come off the bench against Regis Le Bris’s buoyant, Europe-bound Black Cats.
Indeed, it was the priciest of those expensive substitutes who proved the difference; Bruno Guimaraes coming off the bench at half-time to make some amends with Newcastle fans up the road.
The Brazilian was half of a necessary double change at the break, with Guimaraes and Jurrien Timber replacing Miles Lewis-Skelly and Ben White after a frustrating first-half against the side who spent more time in a low block last season than any other.
The second half threatened to become even more exasperating when Le Bris mobilised Sunderland to advance and take the fight the champions. Ezri Konsa, who had spent the first half being picked on by Brobbey, took it too literally with Dan Ballard, giving away a soft penalty.
David Raya cost Arsenal last time at Sunderland. Today, not only did the Premier League’s best goalkeeper save them, his penalty stop from Enzo Le Fee spurred them on.
Just 121 seconds separated Raya’s brilliant left-handed save from Guimaraes’s glorious right-footed strike. Arsenal led two minutes after they should have trailed.
REACTION: Mikel Arteta and Regis Le Bris wowed by Arsenal star vs Sunderland – ‘one of the best’
Raya did it again in added time. Around the same minute last November he gave Brobbey an equaliser, he denied Nordi Mukiele one tonight. Arsenal again celebrated a let-off by scoring themselves, this time through Bukayo Saka from the spot.
It was a satisfying end to a tough night for Saka. The right winger, so often in the past the player Arsenal looked to for inspiration, can afford to let others carry the load while he adapts to the increased traffic on his flank.
Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard, Arsenal’s 9 and 10, have been two of the star performers in the start of their title defence but both naturally pull to the right. Which offers Saka support and plenty of passing options but also crowds his space.
Happily for Arteta, Christos Tzolis and Riccardo Calafiori are thriving amid the openness on the opposite side.
Tzolis was again incisive, allaying the fears Arteta himself acknowledged this week that Arsenal might be short on the left.
As holes go, it is barely pin prick compared to the huge gaps in Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United’s squads. Only City look anything like as well-equipped. But Arsenal’s authority is unmatched.
