Barclays Premier League
Saturday 11th February 3pm
Sunderland AFC v Arsenal
Founded in 1879 as Sunderland and District Teachers AFC, Sunderland joined the Football League in 1890 and went on to win the League the following season. A feat which led The Times to describe them as “a wonderfully fine team”. They repeated the feat the following season and in doing so became the first club to score 100 goals in a single campaign.
Sunderland won the old First Division title six times, 1891/92, 1892/93, 1894/95, 1901/02, 1912/13 and 1934/35 in addition they have won the FA Cup twice in 1937 and 1973.
Sunderland played at Roker Park for 99 years before moving to the 49,000 capacity Stadium of Light in 1997. A Davy Lamp monument stands outside the ground, as a reminder of the Monkwearmouth Colliery above which the stadium was built.
Sunderland has seen something of a resurgence since the appointment of Martin O’Neil as manager and their current league position of eighth on 33 points is only seven points less than Arsenal, in addition Sunderland have only lost 2 of their last 10 games, winning 7.
Once again we are involved in a must win game, the squad should be well rested, after a week without a game, and should be bubbling after thrashing, an admittedly poor, Blackburn Rovers 7 – 1, how good it feels to be able to type a score like that. I just have to do it again 7 – 1.
There are no new injury worries, yet it’s entirely possible that Le Professeur will be tempted to rest one or two players in view of the upcoming mid-week fixture.
We can expect to see Bacary Sagna return at right-back, although Wenger has said that Gibbs is in contention for Saturday I think it most likely that he will come off the bench for the last twenty minutes, I expect to see Vermaelen continue to fill in at left-back for this match at least
The mid-field area could be interesting, should Song be rested? After all he has played a lot of games recently and the emerging talent of Coquelin possibly deserves an outing. Ramsey has had a bit of a rest but Rosicky has been doing pretty well in his absence. Fit again Arteta will surely retain his place.
The front three more or less picks itself, Walcott has been something of a revelation over the past two games, consistently beating his full-back and laying on some lovely assists as well as scoring and opportunist goal against Villa. I know that Wenger worries about burn-out but now is not the time to rest the “on fire” Oxlade-Chamberlain, given his present superb run of form, van Persie will want to play every minute that he can so resting him is out of the question.
Szczesny
Sagna Meretesacker Koscielny Vermaelen
Rosicky Coquelin Arteta
Walcott van Persie Oxlade-Chamberlain
Whatever the outcome of this match Arsenal will be returning to the Stadium of Light next Saturday for an early evening fifth round FA Cup tie.
Final Thought
Those dissenting fans calling for Wenger’s head and booing the team should take a moment to look at Arsenal’s Latin motto.
Victoria Concordia Crescit
Victory Through Harmony
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