Sunderland vs. Arsenal: Rating the Gunners' Players Knocked out of the FA Cup

Arsenal saw their silverware hopes ended for a seventh consecutive season on the domestic front after they were beaten 2-0 by Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in the FA Cup fifth round.

For Arsene Wenger and his not-so-merry men it compounded a week of misery after they were humbled 4-0 by AC Milan in the Champions League in midweek.

Despite a good start by the Gunners against Sunderland, their early momentum was disrupted after Francis Coquelin left the field injured.

The home side took the lead close to the end of the first half through a deflected Keiran Richardson strike, and Arsenal never looked like getting themselves back into a game in which they were out-worked, out-numbered and out-fought by a much more willing and hungry Sunderland outfit.

A killer second goal arrived 10 minutes from time courtesy of a Seb Larsson strike which hit the post before being turned over the line by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for an own goal.

Here are the match day ratings for the Arsenal players from the FA Cup defeat.

Goalkeeper: Lukasz Fabianski

With Arsenal's team, and in particular the defence, suffering from so many injuries this season you might have expected that the last unnecessary position that Arsene Wenger might have made a rotational change would have been in goal.

Not so, as Lukasz Fabianski came in for Wojciech Szczesny in the battle of the nearly-unspellable Polish goalkeepers.

In fairness, Fabianski could hardly have done much to prevent the goals his side conceded and certainly cannot be blamed for the ineptitude being displayed in front of him, but a defence will always be more confident and, hopefully, better organised if there is a steady and familiar presence behind them.

Fabianski barely had a save to make for much of the game but was beaten twice, firstly by a fierce strike from Keiran Richardson before halftime, and then by Sebastian Larsson's late effort on the counterattack.

Larsson's shot hit the post and rolled across the line, only to be scuffed into the net by the unfortunate onrushing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Lukasz Fabianski: 6/10

Full-Backs: Bacary Sagna and Francis Coquelin

Francis Coquelin started the game at left-back for Arsenal, but lasted just eight minutes before pulling up lame with a severe-looking hamstring strain.

He had already made one or two bursts forward in that short time but his injury knocked Arsenal out of their stride at the time.

On the right, Bacary Sagna was probably given one of the toughest games of his career at Arsenal as Jack Colback, Keiran Richardson and most of all James McClean teamed up to completely out-work and out-number the Gunners down that side of the pitch.

McClean ran at Sagna at every opportunity and too often Sagna had no answer to the Irishman's pace and power, letting him cross the ball on several occasions and failing to track his infield runs on others.

Sagna was also booked and perhaps lucky not to be shown a second yellow for a somewhat reckless sliding tackle.

Sunderland won this game by overpowering Arsenal on the ball and on several occasions that happened in the wide areas of the pitch, with the Gunners' defenders and midfielders failing to hold onto or clear the ball adequately. Sagna has to take his share of the blame in this department.

Bacary Sagna: 5/10

Francis Coquelin: no rating

Central Defence: Johan Djourou and Thomas Vermaelen

Might as well get it out of the way first: Johan Djourou was atrocious.

Thomas Vermaelen got his criticism out of the way after the AC Milan debacle in midweek, but today those barbs can be reserved for the player who partnered him in defence, at least for the first 10 minutes.

After Sebastian Squillaci came on for the injured Francis Coquelin, Vermaelen reverted to his lesser-preferred left-back role and, as with Bacary Sagna on the opposite side, found himself under relentless pressure on the ball from Craig Gardner and Seb Larsson.

Those two had the measure of Vermaelen for almost the entire time he played at full-back, giving him no time on the ball and doubling up down the flanks when in possession.

Vermaelen let his frustrations show with a wild swinging tackle on Gardner which earned him a yellow card. He did manage to get forward in the second half to provide width as his side sought to get back in the game, but was unable to put over telling crosses or deliver any decent shots from range.

Djourou got in on the act too as he was the third Gunner to get booked, and might have seen another colour for a lunging two-footed tackle in the second half.

All game long the Swiss international missed headers, delayed clearing the ball and was closed down, failed to deal with any kind of run in behind his full-backs and generally looked like a player who has entirely forgotten how to play at the highest level.

A woeful performance.

Sunderland got three yellow cards in the match, the same as Arsenal. The big difference was that the home side got theirs for midfielders showing tenacity, slight over-zealousness and a fierce will to win; Arsenal's were largely as a result of losing possession, ineptitude or downright frustration.

Johan Djourou: 4/10

Thomas Vermaelen: 6/10

Central Midfield: Alex Song, Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey

Arsenal are a great side when they are confident, in-form and showing off their free-flowing football, and Mikel Arteta, Alex Song and Aaron Ramsey are very good players at showcasing their passing abilities, creativeness and a knack of getting forward into goalscoring opportunities.

In the first half, there was plenty of evidence on display of the first of those skill sets, but scant little of the latter two.

In the second 45 minutes there was little of anything at all as Arsenal succumbed entirely to Sunderland's superior work rate and desire to win the game.

Alex Song didn't provide an awfully strong defensive shield for his team, as is his main job, but he also would have found it difficult to do so anyway as many of Sunderland's attacks came as a result of quick turnovers of possession having won the ball in wide areas of the middle third of the pitch, and rapidly switching the ball to the opposite flank or beyond the defensive line.

Song's has good ability at the opposite end of the pitch too but was rarely if ever seen in the Black Cats' penalty box. In the second half he was forced back into defence himself as injuries played their part in re-shuffling the Arsenal lineup.

Arteta put himself about a bit in trying to stir up some movement from his side in the second period, but too often he was easily muscled off the ball and never really showed the great creativeness that he can bring to the table.

In the first half as Arsenal had long stretches of possession he was instrumental in keeping things going, but too much of the play was in front of the last line of Sunderland players, never hurting them.

Ramsey was withdrawn injured five minutes into the second half and struggled to impose himself on the game, being unable to support the attack or fashion any real openings for his teammates as he endured a difficult and frustrating evening.

What all three of the midfielders had, in particular Song and Arteta who remained on the pitch into the second half, is that they were thoroughly and shamefully out-battled and out-willed by their opponents who matched them for passing and bettered them significantly in wanting to win safe passage to the quarter finals, and herein lay Arsenal's downfall.

Alex Song: 5/10

Mikel Arteta: 6/10

Aaron Ramsey: 5/10

Forwards: Gervinho, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Robin Van Persie

It is rather telling that despite Arsenal not scoring any goals or even creating too many chances, their best two players on the day in the FA Cup fifth-round defeat against Sunderland were attackers.

That is more an indication of how the defence and midfield let the Gunners down than any real attacking wizardry shown by the front three, but two out of those players still put in a decent shift.

Gervinho returned from African Cup of Nations duty with the Ivory Coast and was restored to the team on the left of the front three where he has played for most of the season.

Unfortunately the only clear indication of him playing was his name on the team sheet, as he was largely anonymous for the vast majority of the match.

That might be going a bit overboard; Gervinho actually had Arsenal's most presentable chance of the entire game, running onto a Robin van Persie pass and rifling in a driven shot which was beaten away by Simon Mignolet.

Thereafter, Arsenal threatened little and never came close to finding an equaliser or a consolation.

Gervinho had little impact on the game after Arsenal fell behind, and suffered from a lack of support in the final third and a dearth of quality supply, though his own runs leave plenty to be desired at times.

On the opposite flank, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was far from at his scintillating best but still put in a good shift, causing a few problems for Keiran Richardson on the few occasions he was left isolated against the speedy youngster.

Arguably the worst moment of his short career to date came with less than a quarter of an hour left on the clock as Oxlade-Chamberlain lost the ball in attack and tracked all the way back to inside his own penalty area—and mis-kicked the ball into the back of his own net for an own goal.

Robin van Persie was as quiet as he has been all season, starved of any real service and with little movement ahead of him as he dropped deeper and deeper to receive the ball later on in the game.

His couple of free kicks aside, one of which was deflected wide and another which hit the wall, there was no real goal threat from the Dutch forward and though he might have had a case for a penalty it was definitely a game to forget from his point of view.

Another season will come to an end without an Arsenal captain lifting silverware, and for van Persie, who has just one year left on his contract now, that man is him.

Gervinho: 5/10

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: 7/10

Robin van Persie: 7/10

Substitutes: Sebastian Squillaci, Tomas Rosicky and Theo Walcott

Arsene Wenger had used all of his three substitutes inside the first hour in the FA Cup against Sunderland after a series of enforced changes through injury.

Early on it was Sebastian Squillaci who came on to play central defence, but he was purely abysmal.

Whether it was his lack of game time this season or a poor attitude when coming on, he missed aerial balls, failed to deal with on the ground challenges and provided no support or link up with his fellow defender Johan Djourou.

Squillaci left the field, presumably injured, early in the second half.

At that point both Theo Walcott and Tomas Rosicky came on but neither made any mark on the game despite playing over half an hour.

Walcott was quiet and made poor runs playing in a central forward's role, while Rosicky tried to dictate play from the centre of the park but made an awkward midfield pairing with Mikel Arteta in the face of constant Sunderland pressure and counterattacks.

Not great subs by Wenger, but neither was it a great display by those who started or the team as a whole either.

Sebastian Squillaci: 5/10

Tomas Rosicky: 6/10

Theo Walcott: 5/10