An injury time Thierry Henry goal denied Sunderland what would have been a fair point and ended the lads’ winning run as Arsenal ran out 2-1 winners at the SOL on Saturday afternoon.

James McClean had given Martin O’Neill’s side the lead with another well taken goal only for Sunderland to surrender the lead quickly to a long range Aaron Ramsey strike. However Henry will steal the headlines as he punished Sunderland at the death pouncing on a cross to stab home from inside the six yard box.

Wednesday’s extra time victory over Boro in the FA Cup, which has set up back to back games against Arsenal, wasn’t the most convincing performance from Sunderland, but ultimately we got the job done and continued our impressive form.

The Gunners travelled North to Wearside on the back of hitting seven against Blackburn last Saturday and boasting the most prolific striker in the Premiership this season in Robin Van Persie. However with a tough away tie in the Champions’ League on Wednesday evening at AC Milan and the prospect of another trip to the SOL next Saturday in the FA Cup, it was conceivably a good time to play Arsene Wenger’s side.

Martin O’Neill, still missing several key players through injury, made no changes to the side that won on Teesside with Stephane Sessegnon managing to shake off a knock and continue his exciting partnership with Fraizer Campbell.

The first half was an even and fairly dismal affair and although Arsenal shaded possession it took them until ten minutes to have a shot on goal, with Mignolet doing well to deny Van Persie from long range after he capitalised on some poor defending to shoot from the edge of the box.

Our first effort on goal came from a set piece when McClean got in front of his marker to glance Seb Larsson’s corner over the bar. Some neat interplay between Sessegnon and Campbell forged a chance on the edge of the box but Campbell’s left foot shot deflected wide for a corner which Colback wasted.

Before half time Theo Walcott, who looked fairly disinterested throughout the game, had a chance when he got a run on goal but he side footed his shot wide of the post. The officials left the half time to a chorus of boos after they failed to award a penalty for handball when Mertesacker clearly handled the ball after miss controlling with his chest.

After the break we were a lot more offensive and Craig Gardner was denied twice from long range. The first from the midfielder was blocked by Mertesacker’s outstretched leg, but Gardner was more unfortunate ten minutes later when his expertly controlled left foot volley was tipped wide by Wojciech Szczesny.

With twenty five minutes to go Arsene Wenger made his first change when Oxlade-Chamberlain made way for Henry but before the Frenchman had chance to stake a foothold in the game we took the lead. There was a slight element of good fortune in the build up to the goal as Per Mertesacker crumpled into a heap when in possession allowing James McClean to pounce on the loose ball. McClean had no hesitation driving into the box and after a quick glance across the box decided to go for goal himself and unleashed an unstoppable shot into the bottom right hand corner across Szczezsny. Mertesacker left the field on a stretcher having clearly injured himself quite badly although to be fair to McClean he put the ball out of play as quickly as he could!

Mertesacker was replaced by Welshman Aaron Ramsey and it was the substitute who got the visitors back into the game when his long range shot beat Mignolet and struck both posts before crossing the line. Right from the restart we went back on the front foot and Campbell was hacked down on the edge of the by Vermaelen but the resulting free kick from Richardson came to nothing.

With five minutes to go both sides made changes with Ji replacing Campbell and Arshavin replacing Walcott. As it happened both substitutes would have an influence on the game as firstly Ji wasted an opportunity from the edge of the box before Arshavin in injury time created the winner for Henry.

The Russian was afforded far much time on the left wing and allowed to clip a dangerous ball into the front post which Henry reacted first to touching it past Mignolet.

Final Score: Sunderland 1 Arsenal 2

ALS Man of the Match: Craig Gardner

Aidan Crowe

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