Sunderland will be fighting for survival when they face Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday, the Black Cats slipped back into the relegation zone last week after their match at Manchester City was postponed last week. However, Gus Poyet's men have lost just two of their last 16 matches in all competitions and managed to qualify for the Capital One Cup final on March 2nd and also advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals after beating Southampton last weekend. Their last Premier League match was not as pleasing though as they lost 2-0 at home to Hull City.
Sunderland have not beaten Arsenal away from home since 1983. Goalkeeper Keiren Westwood is unavailable due to a shoulder injury, while defender Carlos Cuellar will need some more time to recover from a hip problem. Wes Brown serves the final game of a two-match ban, but Steven Fletcher could make his return from an Achilles injury. Arsenal have quite a few injury problems, with defender Thomas Vermaelen (calf) and midfielders Kim Kallstrom (back) and Aaron Ramsey (thigh) all unavailable. Theo Walcott and Abou Diaby (both knee) are long-term absentees and defender Kieran Gibbs could also be sidelined after he came off during Wednesday's 2-0 UEFA Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich with a hamstring injury.
Arsenal are just a point behind leaders Chelsea and German defender Per Mertesacker is confident they can recover from the Champions League defeat. "Our team has great spirit and will come back from this defeat to Bayern," the defender said. "We have to switch on quickly again on Saturday in an important game in the Premier League and get the three points."
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Arsenal win - 1/3
Draw - 9/2
Sunderland win - 10/1
Your feedback
Please enter your comment.
Your comment is added.
