Sunderland vs. Arsenal: Team News, Live Stream, TV Info, Ticket News
Sunderland's win over fellow strugglers Norwich has instilled hope that Sam Allardyce can lead his team to a great escape. Their next task is to overcome an Arsenal side stumbling towards the end of another disappointing campaign.
Arsene Wenger's men will feel their campaign effectively ended when their hopes of beating Leicester City and Spurs to the league were extinguished by dropped points against West Ham and Crystal Palace. Although the Gunners recovered to beat West Brom easily on Thursday night, it did little to improve the sombre mood around the club.
This will be a far greater test for Arsenal: Sunderland are buoyed by a big win and desperate to maintain their Premier League status. It should make for an enthralling encounter at the Stadium of Light.
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Date: Sunday, April 24
Time: 2:05 p.m. BST/9:05 a.m. ET
Location: Stadium of Light, Sunderland
Television coverage: Sky Sports 1 / Sky Sports 1 HD (U.K. only), NBCSN and Telemundo (U.S. only)
Streaming: Sky Go (U.K. only), NBC Sports Live Extra (U.S. only)
Ticket Information
For ticket information on all Premier League games, visit the official site or go to the ticket page on the home club's official website.
Form
Sunderland
D (1-1) vs. Southampton
D (1-1) vs. Newcastle
D (0-0) vs. West Brom
L (0-2) vs. Leicester
W (3-0) vs. Norwich
Arsenal
W (2-0) vs. Everton
W (4-0) vs. Watford
D (3-3) vs. West Ham
D (1-1) vs. Crystal Palace
W (2-0) vs. West Brom
Although Allardyce has undoubtedly improved Sunderland, their victory at Norwich last weekend was their first win in seven games. Their home form has been particularly poor, with just four wins out of the previous 17 games at the Stadium of Light.
Fortunately for the Mackems, Arsenal haven't been great on the road of late. Their last 11 Premier League away matches have produced just three wins.
The Managers
Allardyce has pulled no punches in his assessment of Arsenal's season. The former Bolton boss has always taken pleasure in inflicting pain on the Gunners, and asked to weigh up their campaign, he seemed to almost take pleasure in doing precisely that. Allardyce told Clive Hetherington of the Daily Star:
"Arsenal won’t have a better time to win the league than this season.
A normal season would have seen Leicester, with the season they have had, maybe finishing in the top four, which would been miraculous.
But they have had an opportunity that, without any doubt, Arsenal have missed. Leicester have taken it and Arsenal have lost it.
We were all saying, ‘What a chance for Arsenal’. They were going to take advantage of the Man City, Chelsea and Man United slip-ups and win the league. But Leicester have shown everybody how to do it.
"
Arsenal's hopes of catching Leicester may be gone, but Wenger is still insistent his team will fight until the end to amass as many points as possible. Wenger told Arsenal.com:
"We want to finish as high as possible. You never know what happens in front of you. There can still be twists and turns but we want to win our games. We came out of West Ham and Crystal Palace thinking we had produced the quality and didn’t get the points. If you look at our last five games, we won at Everton, we won against Watford, we had two draws and we won today.
The regret we have is being in the lead against West Ham and being in the lead against Crystal Palace and not getting the points. I don’t know where we’ll finish but we have to give everything in every game. We go to Sunderland, Sunderland fight not to go down. That will be a battle and we have to prepare for that.
"
Despite the fact their season is petering out, Wenger must find a way to motivate his players for the game at the Stadium of Light. With Sunderland desperate for points, there's little doubt they'll be up for this one. The onus is on Arsenal to match them.
Team News
Sunderland
Jack Rodwell is back in the squad but is unlikely to force his way into Allardyce's first team. Ideally, Sunderland would be able to call on Jeremain Lens, but it seems the attacking midfielder is likely to be absent through illness.
DeAndre Yedlin will face a late fitness test on an ankle injury, and there is also a doubt over the participation of Fabio Borini. Allardyce will hope for both men to be fit as he looks to stick with the strategy that proved so effective against Norwich.
Predicted Sunderland XI (4-3-3): Vito Mannone; DeAndre Yedlin, Lamine Kone, Younes Kaboul, Patrick van Aanholt; Jan Kirchhoff, Yann M’Vila, Lee Cattermole; Fabio Borini, Wahbi Khazri, Jermain Defoe
Arsenal
Wenger rotated his side for the match with West Brom, bringing in the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Per Mertesacker and Olivier Giroud. He could make changes again for the trip to Sunderland. For example, Danny Welbeck did not play a single minute against the Baggies, so Wenger may choose to unleash him from kick-off on Sunday.
Predicted Arsenal XI (4-2-3-1): Petr Cech; Hector Bellerin, Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal; Francis Coquelin, Mohamed Elneny; Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey; Danny Welbeck
Players to Watch
Sunderland: Jermain Defoe
Defoe's goals have been crucial to Sunderland's push for survival. The former England international has now scored nine times in his 14 league appearances in 2016.
As a former Spurs player, Defoe would love nothing more than to put Arsenal to the sword and help secure survival for his new team. In doing so, he'd also help ensure his old club finish above their new rivals.
Arsenal: Alexis Sanchez
Alexis is in inspired form right now. The Chilean has now scored four goals and made three assists in his last four Premier League games. Defender Per Mertesacker has spoken glowingly to Arsenal.com about his impact:
"When he was out, the statistics were not that bad for us—I think we played 10 games without him and won eight or something like that. We had quite a good record but over the whole season normally we need him healthy. If he is on the pitch, he always creates space for other players because he draws so much attention and that is key to any team.
He is a key member of our side and, if he is fully fit, he makes the difference and that is always the case. He is that type of player who gives everything to the team. Those team members are well appreciated.
"
The former Barcelona forward's form has improved dramatically since switching to the right wing. His battle against the equally speedy Van Aanholt could be on the crucial factors in determining the outcome of this match.
James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and is following the club from a London base throughout 2015/16. Follow him on Twitter here.
