Arsenal sent a statement to the Premier League with a win over Sunderland to go nine points clear at the top of the table.
It’s all eyes on Manchester City, who travel to Anfield on Sunday to face Liverpool.
Pep Guardiola will know what’s at stake, having watched Arsenal increase their lead at the top with their commanding win over Sunderland.
It was a painful day for Guardiola, and a euphoric one for Mikel Arteta, who will have a lot of positive feedback to give his players.
Some Arsenal players thrived against Sunderland, but others ran into some problems.
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Leandro Trossard’s performance against Sunderland was as good as it was worrying
William Saliba was one of Arsenal’s worst performers on the day, while on the flip side, Leandro Trossard was one of the best.
Though the Belgian was the primary source of the Gunners’ chances, not everything was rosy for him.
No Arsenal player created more chances than Trossard, but also, no player lost more duels than the left-winger.
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It would’ve given Arteta a conflicting view of the 31-year-old’s performance, as if there’s one thing we know about the Arsenal manager, it’s that he loves his players to be strong in duels.
Arteta shouted at his players for not winning duels during the All Or Nothing documentary, so it bears consideration what he made of Trossard’s lack of presence in duels against Sunderland.
The Belgium international lost a disappointing 10 duels; however, he made up for it by being the creative source the Gunners have been so desperately crying out for.
Injury worry for Trossard
Truthfully, duels won’t be what Arteta is thinking with regard to Trossard after the win.
In the 89th minute, the winger was forced to withdraw due to injury, which was a worrying sight.
There’s no doubt that Trossard is Arsenal’s best left-sided option at present, so losing him would be a real blow.
It’s yet to be seen how serious Trossard’s injury was, with all fans having their fingers crossed for a good outcome.
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