Red-hot Arsenal back in Premier League as Sunderland visit looms.
Sunderland vs Arsenal kicks off at 17:30 [GMT] on Saturday, November 8, at the Stadium of Light.
Sunderland’s return to the top flight has brought renewed optimism to Wearside, but facing an in-form Arsenal side presents one of their toughest challenges yet. Sunderland [WLWWD], in 4th place, are winless in their last 15 Premier League meetings with Arsenal (D5 L10). Their last victory came back in November 2009 — a 1–0 home success. The Black Cats’ record against top opposition is another concern. They haven’t won any of their last 23 Premier League games against teams starting the day in the top four (D7 L16). Their most recent victory over a league leader was a 1–0 home triumph against Manchester City in January 2012. Despite those numbers, Sunderland’s start to life back in the Premier League has been commendable. Their tally of 18 points from 10 games is the best by a newly promoted club at this stage since Hull City’s 20 in 2008–09. They remain unbeaten at home this season (P5 W3 D2), and their resilience at the Stadium of Light has been a major factor in their early success—their longest top-flight unbeaten home run since a nine-game stretch under Steve Bruce in 2010. They will be hoping that impressive home form counts for something on Saturday when they host Arsenal. A 5—4—1 formation with Isidor in attack is expected against the Gunners.
Arsenal, who picked up a 3-0 win over Slavia Praha in the UEFA Champions League, have won their last five Premier League matches [WWWWW] and are yet to concede in their last four. Their dominance this season has been built on both defensive control and set-piece strength—Arsenal have scored eight goals from corners in their opening ten games, the most ever by a side at this stage. Since the start of 2022–23, they’ve netted 51 goals from corners, 14 more than any other Premier League team. Defensively, Arsenal have faced just 19 shots on target all season — only one in their last four matches. Their average of 1.9 shots on target faced per game is the lowest ever recorded by Opta in a Premier League campaign since 2003–04, the year Arsenal went unbeaten. Viktor Gyökeres, who has been clinical against newly promoted sides, scoring three of his four league goals in such fixtures, is ruled out, having picked up a hamstring injury. Mikel Merino is expected to lead Arsenal’s attack when they appear with the 3—4—2—1 formation.