Sunderland - may be your new home for a couple of weeks

[Letalent]

Hello Gunners,

Hope all is well, but we have been hearing murmurings of discontent from the Emirates on and off most of the season. Assuming we can win our FA Cup replay we will have two games against each other on successive weekends this month at the Stadium of Light. Your chances of winning the FA Cup and qualifying for the Champions League this season depend heavily on your results against us. With interest and respect, I thought it might be nice to have a chat about a few of the key issues before this intriguing double-header.

The Managers
Martin O'Neill v Arsene Wenger - Two of the most respected managers in the British game, though they differ in styles.

MON - We couldn't be happier with him. He looks the perfect fit for the club he supported as a boy. Bruce was taking us down, MON has resurrected the club in incredible fashion. We are the form team in the league since he took over. He is an incredible motivator, good tactician, master of the substitution and has us well-organised, hard to break down and capable of scoring incredible goals week in week out. Negatives? Maybe we are in the honeymoon period, but we don't have any.

How has Arsene been doing recently? We hear sounds of discontent from the terraces? It seems a long time now since you were going unbeaten and this season looks like your worst yet as you struggle to reach the minimum 4th place. What's happening? Is it time for change?


The Players - Sunderland
What looked like a team of no-hopers at Sunderland now look like serious candidates for European football. We have a resolute defence (4th lowest goals conceded this season), free-scoring midfield but weakest area is up front, hence why we have Billy Bendtner on loan from Arsenal. I advise you not to look too closely at our team on paper, as the game is played on grass and our total is definitely playing greater than the sum of it's parts. Our defence is very strong - we haven't lost by more than one goal all season and we haven't conceded more than 2 in a match all season. Anyone predicting a romp is likely to be disappointed. Mignolet has good positioning and his only real problem area is weakness under crosses, where he needs O'Shea and Turner to help him out. Our FBs could be better and we know it. If you can stretch them that may be your best chance of piercing our defence as we have conceded a high % of headed goals this season with decent crosses from wide areas. How good is RVP in the air? He might find the central area too congested, even with his silky skills. In front of this mean defence you will find a dogged and determined midfield. Cattermole may/ should be back by then and he is rejuvenated under O'Neill, having cut out most of the silly bookings and poor lunged tackles. Vaughan his willing accomplice may be missing, but we have Colback who puts in a shift and rarely wastes the ball, Gardner who will shoot (and score) from distance, and Meyler if we need some height. Our wingers are dangerous too in different ways. Larsson can swing in a decent cross but his great strength are pinpoint deadballs - giving us freekicks in the sweetspot is a bad idea, as I am sure you remember from earlier this season. On the other side, you will find one of the Premier League's secret weapons - James McClean. Don't let his lack of reputation fool you - this guy is golden. Strong as an ox, fast, direct, scores goals, very good at beating his man and delivering dangerous crosses. We already accept that we are unlikely to be able to keep him much more than the next 18 months. Our real key man, however, is Sessegnon, playmaker extraordinaire. We are only partly joking when we sing God took Messi and Pele, rolled them into one, looked back and he called him Sessegnon. To win against Sunderland, you have to stop the Beninese magician, and that is easier said than done. He has the highest successful dribble % in the league, is creative, tireless and loving his football. I advise that you don't double up all your defenders on him as that will just make more space for James McClean or Fraizer Campbell and all 3 players are seriously rapid. Those 3 form much of our attacking intent and they have a lot of pace, trickery, wingplay and finishing between them. Truthfully, I don't think you can stop us from scoring, the only question is can you score more. Your best hope is winning 2-1. Normally I would say you are favourites but I doubt the bookies will agree. We are top of the form table for a reason and fancy it against anyone at the moment.

The Players - Arsenal
We all know about RVP but who else should we watch out for? Is Oxlade-Chamberlain worth all the fuss? What sort of game can we expect from him? Who will 'try' to manmark Sessegnon? How will you deal with our counter-attacking movement? What do we have to do to stop the Arsenal passing moves from hurting us in the final third? Who is Coquelin? Who is the weak link in the defence?

I am looking forward to these games (god willing we beat Boro) as two of the best games of the season. Assuming we play twice, I have a feeling it may be spoils shared, one win each. If I am right, which one do you want the most? Any other expectations for the game?

[SuperJackWilshere19]

What you said about McClean also applies to Oxlade-Chamberlain. Hence the fuss.

[Billy Death]

What you said about McClean also applies to Oxlade-Chamberlain. Hence the fuss.

True but a massive difference between £15m & 350 grand though.

[SuperJackWilshere19]

True but a massive difference between £15m & 350 grand though.

Also a four year age gap. Everyone knew about AOC hence the price tag. At first most thought we paid too much but now its becoming pretty clear that this kid is a pretty special talent and he was worth it.

[Billy Death]

Also a four year age gap. Everyone knew about AOC hence the price tag. At first most thought we paid too much but now its becoming pretty clear that this kid is a pretty special and he was worth it.

AOC is a hell of a talent for sure. I kinda get the feeling we got better value for money though.

Maybe we'll flog him on in a couple of years for £25m. Mind you, the bindippers wil be font of the queue going by recent seasons.

[zaGooner]

Sunderland may try to focus too much on marking RVP out of the game resulting in a lot of space for our wide players Walcott and Ox. Don't forget if you play a high line our speedy wingers will have space to run in behind. If you try and play deep it will work in our favour as our midfield will press high up the pitch. We have an abundance of attacking talent but our problem lies in defence. We shall see.

[Letalent]

Sunderland may try to focus too much on marking RVP out of the game resulting in a lot of space for our wide players Walcott and Ox. Don't forget if you play a high line our speedy wingers will have space to run in behind. If you try and play deep it will work in our favour as our midfield will press high up the pitch. We have an abundance of attacking talent but our problem lies in defence. We shall see.

Excellent point. We will almost certainly play with a deep zonal defence, as pace in defence (Richardson aside) isn't our greatest asset. It is O'Neill's game to soak up pressure and counter-attack. RVP will find the central areas congested and it may be hard to feed him the ball. Larsson and McClean are not just attacking threats, they track back and work for the team. This match will be classic counter-attacking and set piece creativity versus possession passing football. The concern for your lads may be that we have become pretty adept at dealing with possession football teams in recent weeks. Swansea were being lauded up and down the country last month, mainly for beating your lads at their own game and a good result at the Villa but they were made to look ordinary, toothless, tippy-tappy with no end product at the SoL. We kinda just let them have that possession in areas that couldn't hurt us, picked the ball off them when they got close and when we attacked it was incisive and saw us score two cracking goals. This is mainly why I am really looking forward to these (hopefully two) fixtures as I want to see how our system stands up against a side that play possession football at the highest level.

[CyprusMackem]

After Stoke last week playing Arsenal will be like dining on a fine steak. That's not to say we will win, I'll be over the moon with a draw.
As Letalent says, Arsenal are a damn fine Football club and I to can't wait to see how we measure up.

[concrete tony]

I'm annoyed Arsenal have found their form! Grrrr. We have only conceded 24 goals in 24 games this term. We defend well as a team. Arsenal could be a bridge too far.......then again, if Arsenal don't do their homework.

[PISKIE]

Excellent point. We will almost certainly play with a deep zonal defence, as pace in defence (Richardson aside) isn't our greatest asset. It is O'Neill's game to soak up pressure and counter-attack. RVP will find the central areas congested and it may be hard to feed him the ball. Larsson and McClean are not just attacking threats, they track back and work for the team. This match will be classic counter-attacking and set piece creativity versus possession passing football. The concern for your lads may be that we have become pretty adept at dealing with possession football teams in recent weeks. Swansea were being lauded up and down the country last month, mainly for beating your lads at their own game and a good result at the Villa but they were made to look ordinary, toothless, tippy-tappy with no end product at the SoL. We kinda just let them have that possession in areas that couldn't hurt us, picked the ball off them when they got close and when we attacked it was incisive and saw us score two cracking goals. This is mainly why I am really looking forward to these (hopefully two) fixtures as I want to see how our system stands up against a side that play possession football at the highest level.

We got hit by both Swansea and Villa on the counter. I think it's an occupational hazard of playing attacking football. We'll definitely go for it at the stadium of light, so it will be a test of your defence and also how well we create and take any chances we create. We lost a game at fulham after taking the lead, so anything is possible. I've enjoyed watching Sunderland get some solidity back with MON's arrival.

They should be really good games and a good indication of where both teams have come in terms their respective revivals.

[Samurai]

I'm annoyed Arsenal have found their form! Grrrr. We have only conceded 24 goals in 24 games this term. We defend well as a team. Arsenal could be a bridge too far.......then again, if Arsenal don't do their homework.

I have a funny feeling Sunderland will win. We haven't found our form - Blackburn are hardly Barcelona!

[Bergkamp a Dutch master]

piskie - 'We got hit by both Swansea and Villa on the counter.'

All sides hit us on the counter - we are poor at defending.

[The Vaughan Identity]

Will Mertesacker be playing? Sess turning and running at him may be our best source of success IMO

[zaGooner]

I have a funny feeling Sunderland will win. We haven't found our form - Blackburn are hardly Barcelona!

We do have confidence back though. We narrowly lost out on taking all three points last season. It should be a great game... always is at the SoL.

[AmsterdamRoger]

A very good team shame about your league position, hope it improves, AFTER you play us obviously, as for a cup game anything can happen especially if he puts a weaker team in,

[AmsterdamRoger]

we have one of the best defenses in the league

[MagicCarpet]

Can't believe Sunderland fans are getting ahead of themselves. One game at a time- we have to beat Boro first. Show a little bit of respect me thinks!!

[The Vaughan Identity]

Can't believe Sunderland fans are getting ahead of themselves. One game at a time- we have to beat Boro first. Show a little bit of respect me thinks!!

This.

[MrRAWhite]

Boro proved at our place that they will be no pushovers, and I'm expecting one hell of a battle on Wednesday....

[Lostinvegas]

Going to be a classic game against Arsenal, I think it could be high scoring.