Previous Meetings

Arsenal 4-1 Sunderland (2013/14 Premier League)

Sunderland 1-3 Arsenal (2013/14 Premier League)

Sunderland 0-1 Arsenal (2012/13 Premier League)

Arsenal 0-0 Sunderland (2012/13 Premier League)

Sunderland 2-0 Arsenal (2011/12 FA Cup)

Injuries

Arsene Wenger will be able to call upon Laurent Koscielny and Yaya Sanogo for his matchday squad, should he see fit, for the clash with the Mackems. However, David Ospina, Mesut Ozil, Mathieu Debuchy, Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud all remain long-term absentees.

Sunderland boss Gus Poyet is unable to select Billy Jones, Sebastian Coates, Emanuele Giaccherini and Ricardo Alvarez (remember when it was seen as a major transfer blow when he opted for Inter Milan over Arsenal?!)

Blazer’s Bets

German international Lukas Podolski may well be rewarded with a starting place against Sunderland after his Champions League heroics; Podolski is the most clinical striker at the club, therefore, Betfair’s 23/10 for Lukas to find the back of the net at some point during the game is tempting.

With Arsenal’s defence lacking options as well as form, and Sunderland’s shipping in eight last weekend, both teams to score seems a cert. I’m going with Winner’s 17/20.

Predictions

Given our awful – let’s not beat around the bush, that’s exactly what it is – start to the season and the fact Sunderland will be wanting to banish the demons of their 8-0 defeat against Southampton, I’m slightly nervous.

You’d like to think Arsenal will have more than enough to deal with the threat of the Black Cats. However, we’ve failed to deal with Crystal Palace, Leicester City, Hull City and Anderlecht, teams we should be comfortable dispatching of.

An underwhelming, and worrying, 1-1 draw awaits.

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