To make matters even worse, Laurent Koscielny, Santi Cazorla and Alexis Sanchez all picked up injuries at Carrow Road – with Koscielny now the only one in with a chance of being fit to face Sunderland at the Emirates this Saturday.
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Joel Campbell and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain started and it was the former who opened the scoring 33 minutes in when he converted Mesut Ozil’s delightful pass from inside the area only for Giroud to score at the wrong end before half-time.
The game remained in the balance and tensions ran high but a series of superb saves from Čech helped the Gunners to cling on before the industrious Aaron Ramsey finally sealed the victory by poking home a third Arsenal goal in injury time. Sunderland’s celebration will be short-lived as the Gunners are keen to redeem themselves from three straight lackluster performances.
The Frenchman also feels on current form Campbell is an important player for Arsenal and is crossing his fingers to see more of the Costa Rican at the top of his game.
The youngster Watmore has scored in the previous game and has two goals to his name in this season.
Giroud’s performance was nearly Arsenal in microcosm – the own goal an error caused by Sunderland pressure, but ultimately enough quality to secure a victory that was barely deserved.
Getting players back is always helpful but we need to be mindful that they are unlikely to be 100 per cent matchfit after a spell on the sidelines.
Still, they climb to second in the Premier League, two points behind leaders Leicester.
Arsene Wenger all but confirmed Leicester as Arsenal’s chief title rivals insisting: “We have to hope they slip up”.
Sam Allardyce’s charges sat deep in a 5-4-1 formation without the ball, with wing-backs Patrick van Aanholt and DeAndre Yedlin bursting forward whenever possession was turned over.
Arsene Wenger told Arsenal.com that he didn’t know how long Cazorla and Arteta would be out for, a worrying admission for sure. The club fave not fared much better and have lost nine and drawn five in the Premier League in North London.
Sunderland’s efforts were rewarded after Olivier Giroud allowed them back into the game just before half-time, shinning Yann M’Vila’s free-kick past Čech into the back of his own net.
It was an injury ravaged Arsenal side that certainly wasn’t at its best, but we got the win and made up some ground on the teams ahead of us.
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Saturday’s success was ideal preparation for next week’s crucial Champions League trip to Olympiakos, where Arsenal must win by any score other than 1-0 or 2-1 if they are to qualify for the last 16.
