Arsenal Player Ratings vs. Sunderland: Arteta Mixes It Up to Widen Premier League Lead

Viktor Gyökeres scored twice after coming off the bench in a comfortable 3–0 win.

Martín Zubimendi (left) and Declan Rice dominated midfield. | Glyn KIRK/AFP/Getty Images

LONDON — Goals from Martín Zubimendi and Viktor Gyökeres earned Arsenal a 3–0 win at home to Sunderland on Saturday which took them nine points clear at the Premier League summit.

On a day when the north London weather couldn’t make up its mind, long bursts of steady rain interspersed with oddly mild spells, Mikel Arteta arrived with a clear game plan.

Matching Sunderland’s physicality with a meaty strike partnership of Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus, the Gunners were given the clear brief of shooting on sight against their visitors’ low block. Zubimendi’s crisp thump from 20 yards broke the deadlock in the 42nd minute and set Arsenal on their way to victory.

Tumbling behind against these high-spec battlers has so often proven decisive. Arsenal have now taken 53 of a possible 57 points from winning positions, the manic loss to a newly motivated Manchester United their only Premier League defeat of the season from in front. As Arteta stressed after the match, Zubimendi’s opener “broke” the game open.

Afforded more space by a Sunderland side chasing their way back into the contest, Havertz found room inside the penalty area to tee up Gyökeres for a game-sealing second. The icing on the cake of a sweet victory was a second for the Swede in stoppage time.

As they proved against the Gunners at the Stadium of Light in November, the Black Cats are not a foe to be underestimated, making the largely straightforward nature of this weekend win all the more satisfactory.

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One Thing We Can’t Ignore

Martín Zubimendi scored the opener. | Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC/Getty Images

Everyone was so aware of the low block which Arsenal would face from Sunderland that Arteta was drawn on the topic of shooting from distance before Saturday’s match. He acknowledged that, even in the age of expected goals (xG), which explicitly outline precisely how much harder it is to score from range, the massed ranks of a rearguard can offer little other option.

“The more density there is inside the box and the more contact there is, the more difficult it is to score goals, especially in open play,” Arteta sighed. “It’s another weapon to have.”

It is a weapon Arsenal have not often deployed. Heading into this weekend’s fixtures only Brentford—the Premier League side most strictly governed by xG and advanced data—take a lower proportion of their shots from outside the box. Less than a quarter of the Gunners’ efforts this season have been beyond the confines of the penalty area. Yet 44% of their attempts against Sunderland’s stubborn resolve in the first half were from range, most notably Zubimendi’s impressive opener.

Declan Rice and Kai Havertz both curled the ball a whisker past the post which Zubimendi would strike so favorably. Taking advantage of the space created by Riccardo Calafiori’s forward burst—a unique trait possessed by the Italian which ranks him above Arsenal’s cabal of competing left backs—Zubimendi speared a sumptuous low, skidding effort off the upright.

The game’s opening goal shows just how fraught relying upon long shots can be. A fraction of an inch to the left and Zubimendi’s goal turns into a shot off target.

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Arsenal Player Ratings vs. Sunderland (4-2-3-1)

William Saliba had a tough job. | David Price/Arsenal FC/Getty Images

*Ratings provided by FotMob*

GK: David Raya—8.1: Delivered one of his shakiest performances of the season but managed to get away with it.

RB: Jurriën Timber—7.5: Provided almost no help to Noni Madueke, more concerned by mucking in at the back.

CB: William Saliba—7.7: Immediately knew he was in for a gruelling physical battle against Brian Brobbey, not so much a striker as a roving 5'11" contracted bicep. Saliba will need a new shirt after having his pulled from one side of N5 to the other, but largely navigated the challenge well.

CB Gabriel—7.8: Cast in the unfamiliar role of mopping up behind Saliba, who was busy scrapping with Brobbey, Gabriel was as enduringly solid as ever.

LB: Riccardo Calafiori—7.1: On his first Premier League start since Christmas, Arsenal’s master of mayhem played a key role in the opening goal and firmly shut Trai Hume down in a defensive sense.

CM: Martín Zubimendi—8.3: His goal will be what’s remembered but the bevvy of decisive prods and strokes of the ball—in the sense of keeping the game ticking over and disrupting Sunderland’s forward surges—were also crucial.

CM: Declan Rice—8.1: Wherever the ball dropped, Rice seemed to appear, like some sort of pale cockney apparition there to win back possession.

AM: Kai Havertz—7.9: There is something of a lumber about Havertz’s stride pattern which always colours the fluency of his delicate link-up play.

RW: Noni Madueke—6.5: Invariably faced with the diligent Chemsdine Talbi once he’d skipped past Reinildo, Madueke struggled to break through the double team.

ST: Gabriel Jesus—6.5: Scavenged for the ball as feverishly as ever but lacked any sense of calm or composure once he found himself in possession.

LW: Leandro Trossard—7.8: The only downside to a wonderfully well-rounded performance was that he left the pitch after clutching his hamstring.

SUB: Gabriel Martinelli (60’ for Madueke)—7.7: There are few players who more routinely seem to streak into an empty half of a pitch as often as Martinelli. Kept his nerve to square for Gyökeres.

SUB: Viktor Gyökeres (60’ for Jesus)—8.5: Controlled the shot for his first goal very well considering that he was falling over—quite why he lost his balance without any contact from a defender is perhaps a question for another day.

SUB: Piero Hincapié (67’ for Calafiori)—6.2

SUB: Eberechi Eze (67’ for Havertz)—6.5

SUB: Christian Nørgaard (89’ for Trossard)—N/A

Subs not used: Kepa Arrizabalaga (GK), Ben White, Cristhian Mosquera, Myles-Lewis-Skelly.

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What the Ratings Tell Us

Arsenal fans were out in force on Saturday. | Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC/Getty Images

• The Havertz-Jesus experiment needs some work. The two strikers had their best moment in the first 30 seconds: Havertz won the first aerial from kick off which Jesus gobbled up, scurrying to the corner flag from where he teed up his German strike partner for a wayward header. They were never so threatening again and Jesus’s chances of reprising that role weren’t aided by Gyökeres’s goal which was teed up by Havertz.
• Noni Madueke needs a break. Arteta had to buy a player of Madueke’s quality to cover Bukayo Saka after running him into the ground. In the absence of the injured Hale End graduate, the former Chelsea winger has started Arsenal’s last four game—it showed during his listless 60 minutes on the pitch. As a word of warning: the last time Madueke started four straight matches, he finished the last one with a knee injury which kept him sidelined for two months.

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The Numbers That Explain Arsenal’s Battling Victory

It was an aerial onslaught at the Emirates. | Glyn KIRK/AFP/Getty Images

• Arteta warned that Sunderland “have a very clear identity of what they want to do” and promised: “We know what to expect.” The Black Cats duly lived up to their billing and rained down a dizzying 55 long balls throughout. Ironically, Arsenal seemed to have more issues when Sunderland kept their passes on the deck, with Havertz’s insertion into a new midfield role muddying the waters of the team’s normally clear-headed press.
• Arsenal limited the Black Cats to just five shots, the second-lowest tally they have recorded in a game across a largely successful season back in the top flight.

Statistic	Arsenal	Sunderland
Possession	50%	50%
Expected Goals (xG)	1.22	0.17
Total Shots	16	5
Shots on Target	5	3
Big Chances	1	1
Passing Accuracy	84%	80%
Fouls Committed	11	8
Corners	5	2

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