Campbell has spent plenty of time out on loan since joining Arsenal in 2011 but manager Arsene Wenger has already declared the 23-year-old is very much part of the first-team picture at the Emirates Stadium.
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The Frenchman managed to atone in the second half when, to his obvious relief, he scored a diving header from an Aaron Ramsey, propelling Arsenal back in front.
The win lifts Arsenal into second place, two points behind Leicester, with Wenger’s charges travelling to take on basement dwellers Aston Villa next weekend. “We missed a very good chance inside the first 15 minutes and when those appear you need to grab them”.
“It’s always a disappointment to lose the players at an important moment of the season”, said Wenger.
“It was our first game without the injured players and we absolutely had to win”.
“It’s coming together”, Allardyce said.
“The system is working well in both attacking and defending point of view”.
“I have to say we were tested today and stood up to that”.
“The spirit is getting better”.
But Allardyce believes that if the other attacking options in Sunderland’s ranks can contribute with meaningful goal tallies, then the Black Cats will ensure their Premier League survival. We exploited the weaknesses of Arsenal today very well.
“We will always create opportunities – just hopefully we can stop Olympiacos, keep a clean sheet and grab a couple of goals ourselves”, he told reporters.
“We know we’re going to spend a period of time where we’ll have to be particularly patient and concentrate on frustrating the opposition”, added Allardyce.
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Sanchez has scored nine goals in 20 appearances in all competitions so far, while Cazorla has made the deep-lying playmaker role his own this season. When we did have a chance to get a last-gasp equaliser, which I thought we deserved, unfortunately Patrick put it over the bar.
