Having taken the brunt of the blame for Arsenal’s injury problems, however, Wenger knew he would be criticised further if points were dropped at home to an in-form but relegation-threatened outfit.
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Arsenal pushed a little more at the start of the second half, but Sunderland might have taken the lead on the hour as Watmore fed Steven Fletcher whose low hard shot was palmed past the post by Cech. It was much better, but they remained always a threat. “It was frustrating but I’m encouraged by the players’ performance”. Personally for me this season has been really good with the number of assists that I have, but the most important thing is that we play well as a team and we have to try our best to stay at the top.
Sunderland, playing with three center-backs, had been impressively organized without the ball.
Arsenal laboured but that changed in a moment as Mesut Özil turned, spotted Campbell running behind full back DeAndre Yedlin, and delivered the ideal through-ball for the young Costa Rican to slip beyond Sunderland goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon.
Sunderland’s equaliser came just before half-time, helped along by some horribly limp defending. Arsenal’s lead would only last for 12 minutes, with Olivier Giroud putting through his own net after a Yann M’Vila cross.
The game was slow to get going again after the restart, with Aaron Ramsey flagged offside – Pantilimon saved well nevertheless.
And after a disappointing November, when a run of bad results was accompanied by significant injuries to Alexis Sanchez, Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin, Wenger is hopeful that it proves a turning point.
Giroud made up for the own goal by firing the Gunners back in front on 63 minutes before Aaron Ramsey wrapped up the scoring deep in stoppage time.
However, Sunderland pulled level on the stroke of half-time thanks to a splash of fortune.
Jeremain Lens and Adam Johnson were introduced into the fray as Sunderland exhausted, but Watmore was the real bright spark for the visitors, and the youngster had a decent chance on 75 minutes when he collected M’Vila’s chipped pass, but his shot was tame and Cech collected easily. Theo Walcott returned to the team from the substitute’s bench, and added a welcome touch of pace and urgency to Arsenal’s play.
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“I’ve been here (at Arsenal) with Bolton, Blackburn, West Ham and Newcastle and I’ve never been here and created as many chances with a team than we created today, that’s for sure”, he told reporters.
