Arsene Wenger has formed an unexpected ally ahead of Sunderland’s trip to the Emirates Stadium, with former foe Sam Allardyce revealing his admiration for the Arsenal boss.
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While Leicester City, which took the top spot with a 3-0 drubbing of Swansea City, kept the Gunners from taking the outright led in the League, Arsenal secured 2nd place, just two points back.
“Yes, that’s positive”, Wenger said.
“It could have been one of those days, but the mental aspect was good and we kept concentration”.
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.
“It’s going to be a big test for us, but one we should look forward to that little bit more, based on the back-to-back wins we’ve just got”.
Sunderland huffed and puffed to try and bag a late equaliser and had a great chance to level the scores in dying minutes of the contest.
“So perhaps if he’d have been on the field, he’d have maybe had two or three”.
The manager, for instance, has lost seven Premier League games in a row against Arsenal and hasn’t tasted a triumph since May, 2010.
Making only his second Premier League start, the 21-year-old not only did his defensive duties but regularly had the legs to get up in support of Fletcher.
Injuries to first-choice central midfielders Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin meant a new pairing of Aaron Ramsey and Mathieu Flamini, while Alexis Sanchez was also missing. That being said, they will have their work cut out since Arsenal are a good team and playing away from home has not been a strength.
Playmaker Ozil dropped very deep to collect the ball off the centre-backs – a outcome of both Sunderland’s low defensive block and the absence of Cazorla – as Arsenal struggled to prise open a compact unit.
“I feel a lot more comfortable [in midfield] and it suits my game a lot better”.
“You prioritise much better, you’re calmer and you learn to handle things”.
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“I think I can honestly say I have been here with other teams, but never created as many chances as today”.
