The Game

I’ll be honest, the more I look at the English Premier League table the more I understand that Top Four will be very, very difficult to achieve this season.

Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur all look strongly-equipped to be the teams to challenge for this as we have to admit that following all the INS and OUTS from last summer’s transfer window, we are now in transition mode and should use this season to build something “special” for next year, the one after and the future.

Of course this doesn’t mean that we should accept all the negative results without asking questions. Even if this squad is not strong enough to challenge for a Top Four finish we should still be in a position to beat the likes of Blackburn and Sunderland, no?

Coming up today and next week are two very important games, the Black Cats and Marseille that is, two games that could easily define our season, especially the latter since our position in Europe would not be that strong if we lose in France.

But, as Arsene Wenger and the players have been saying for the last week or so, we have to take it one game at a time, starting from today’s, a tricky game against a determined Sunderland side with Steve Bruce’s men fully aware of the fact that if they cause a major upset at the Emirates they will leapfrog us in the table, adding more misery to an already-depressed Arsenal side.

And, until you wait for kick-off, check out Arsene Wenger’s opinion on Sebastian Larsson, Lukasz Fabianski and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and also why Laurent Koscielny is indeed ready to fill the void left by injured Bacary Sagna on the right.

As always, please do join the discussion in our chat room which will also be active after the full time whistle. You will be glad to know that from this season, to provide a better chat experience to our readers, users can be banned if they post offensive comments.

Streaming Links

For those who don’t know where to watch the game, maybe we can help, follow this link for streaming options. Links are updated before and during the match.

The Line-Ups

Arsenal

Szczesny, Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Song, Arteta, Rosicky, Walcott, Gervinho, Van Persie

Subs: Fabianski, Andre Santos, Djourou, Frimpong, Arshavin, Benayoun, Park

Sunderland

Mignolet, O’Shea, Richardson, Turner, Brown, Elmohamady, Larsson, Cattermole, Colback, Vaughan, Sessegnon

Subs: Gardner, Dong-won, Meyler, Westwood, Wickham, McClean, Laing

Half-Time Thoughts and Analysis

As the chat room has grown in popularity, my half-time thoughts as well as the comments of other Arsenal fans are now being discussed in the Arsenal Interactive chat room to which you can find a link at the bottom of this page. Please feel free to join the fun and share your point of view.