Published: 22 February, 2014
By PAUL COWLING at the Emirates

Premier League
ARSENAL 4, SUNDERLAND 1

ARSENAL kept within a point of league leaders Chelsea with this emphatic 4-1 win over Sunderland at the Emirates.

The visitors, with next week's Wembley cup final on their minds, were no match for a determined Arsenal, who put their midweek Champions League defeat behind them. 

“They (Arsenal) had something to prove,” said Sunderland boss Gus Poyet, after the match.

For Arsene Wenger it was job done after a “demanding week”. 

“We did a job in the first half, and scored two great goals,” he said. “We had to take the product and the belief that we normally have, into the Sunderland match.”

Wenger had rung the changes from the 2-0 reverse to Bayern Munich. One notable omission was Mesut Ozil. 

Wenger explained that “a thigh problem” meant Ozil couldn’t even make the subs’ bench against Sunderland.

Instead, Wenger paired the largely overlooked Lukas Podolski with Olivier Giroud. And it was Giroud who didn’t take long to find the back of the net, pouncing on a through-ball from Jack Wilshere to put Arsenal ahead on four minutes.

Giroud doubled the lead on 31 minutes, seizing on a poor backpass to send the ball past the former Gunners keeper.

Tomas Rosicky scored the goal of the game three minutes before the break, dinking the ball over the advancing Mannone after a vintage short-pass Arsenal move that had the Sunderland defence at sixes and sevens.

“Tomas took the role of (Dennis) Bergkamp today,” said Wenger, in reference to the Dutch master who was at the Emirates for the unveiling of his statue.

Sunderland rallied straight after the break. Wojciech Szczesny had to be alert to block a goal-bound effort from Fabio Borini. But Arsenal were soon back on the front foot, as Laurent Koscielny rose to head home Arsenal’s fourth on 57 minutes.

Almost immediately, Koscielny was forced to leave the pitch with a back injury and was replaced by Mathieu Flamini.

This should have been the game for the raw but promising Yaya Sanogo to come on and bag a confidence-boosting goal, but Wenger's substitutions had been influenced by injury to both Koscielny and Nacho Monreal, who was replaced by Carl Jenkinson.

Serge Gnabry – on for Rosicky – could have made it 5-0 on 76 minutes, but took one touch too many, half slipped and his weak shot was easily parried by Mannone.

At the other end, Szcesny made another fine save on 69 minutes to deny Ki Sung-Yueng, but was slow to react to Emanuele Giaccherini's low drive which made it 4-1, though this was mere consolation.

At the whistle for full-time, Giroud left the field to the cheers of the Emirates crowd. 

“He (Giroud) has strength of character,” said Wenger, following a week in which the French striker’s personal problems had been well documented.

With a tough assignment away at Stoke City next week, where nothing less than three points will do, Gunners fans will be relieved to see Giroud back to goal scoring ways

ARSENAL: Szczesny; Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny (Flamini 67) Monreal (Jenkinson 45); Arteta, Wilshere, Rosicky (Gnabry 74); Cazorla, Giroud, Podolski.
Subs not used: Oxlade-Chamberlain, Fabianski, Sanogo, Bendtner.
Attendance: 60,012

ARSENAL COMMENT by Paul Cowling

HOW Arsenal fans wish they could still call on Dennis Bergkamp in his pomp; the Dutch master was celebrated with a statue unveiling before kick-off against Sunderland and was guest of honour at the game. 

The statuesque Dennis assumes that famous pose where he leaps several feet off the ground and controls the ball between his instep and shin.

“Sign him on, sign him on,” sang the Arsenal fans. And the way Sunderland played in the first half, Bergkamp would have had a hat-trick.

It should, of course, be remembered that Wenger didn’t sign Bergkamp. It was Bruce Rioch who signed him for a mere £7.5m from Inter Milan in June 1995.

But Wenger was quick to pay tribute to a highly gifted player who scored 120 goals for Arsenal, and was part of the Invincibles team of 2004.

After Arsenal’s 4-1 thumping of the Black Cats, Wenger said Bergkamp “changed the destiny of the club, and changed football in England”.

He added: “He was the first big star at Arsenal, and transformed the way we play football here. Nobody will forget him.”

A Dutch journalist asked Wenger if he could ever see Bergkamp coming back to Arsenal in a coaching role.

“He has the qualities, maybe one day,” said Wenger.