Arshavin should be ready to make his debut by starting in this game. It’s a shame that we only got to see what a Nasri/Vela combination on the wings could do in one game before Andriy picks up a starting spot

A nice morale boosting win to shake off the cobwebs from three goalless draws in the last four games, and now we need to take that confidence into the league. If we win on Saturday, the race for fourth place gets a little bit more interesting. Chelsea travel to Villa before we kick off on Saturday, if that’s a draw we could move to three points behind Chelsea and five behind Villa. If Chelsea win, we’re four off of Villa and they’ve lost two games in a row, knocking the confidence they developed during a seventeen match domestic unbeaten run that stretched back to early November. If Villa win, we’re two points off of fourth, as close as we’ve been for a while, and Chelsea’s slide continues further.

But however it works out, we actually need to WIN for the first time in four league games. This unbeaten run (which currently stands at thirteen games) is nice, and it shows that our defence has improved (six clean sheets in the last nine games), but we’re falling further and further behind in the league. We’ve had opportunities to make up ground on the top four two weeks in a row and failed to score a single goal. We’re just not scoring enough goals in general (Monday aside, obviously). Eleven clubs have scored as many or more home goals in the league than us this season. We’ve managed as many as West Brom and Portsmouth, and have scored less than Newcastle and Fulham. There’s something wrong with that. But maybe the return of Eduardo and the potential emergence of Arshavin can assist on the goalscoring side of things. At least we finally scored a goal that wasn’t created or finished by van Persie. A month and a half into the new year…

Sunderland currently sit eleventh in the table. They are seven points away from the relegation spots, but it is still really tight towards the bottom of the table. There’s only twelve points between Wigan in seventh and West Brom in twentieth. I mean, mathematically I think we could probably still go down. I wonder if that’s been true of us before under Wenger with two thirds of the season gone. Their form in the last ten games reads WLDWDLDWLD, three wins three losses and four draws, so they’re consistently inconsistent. They won their last game so they’re due a draw or a loss. Away from home this season they’ve won three, drawn four and lost five. They’re capable of being a dangerous side when they play well, they pulled back a two goal deficit at the Grove last season and only a late van Persie goal prevented the draw. Djibril Cisse has scored more goals this season than Adebayor.

Up until this season we had beaten Sunderland in the league the last seven times we’d played them, and had a 100% record against Roy Keane in his managerial career, but the 1-1 draw this season with Fabregas bailing us out at the Stadium of Light put an end to that run. In fifteen fixtures in all competitions between the two sides since Wenger has been manager, we’ve won nine, drawn four and lost two. They beat us at Highbury in the third round of the Worthington Cup in 2002, but in the league they haven’t beaten us away from home since the Premier League began.

Team News

Arsenal

Arshavin should be ready to make his debut by starting in this game. It’s a shame that we only got to see what a Nasri/Vela combination on the wings could do in one game before Andriy picks up a starting spot. If I were selecting the team, especially against a side like Sunderland at home who will just pack the box (they did it to a ridiculous degree at home, what are they going to be like away?), I’d play Vela on the left, Arshavin on the right and Song and Nasri in central midfield with Song told not to advance beyond the half way line. With van Persie and Bendtner up front, that would lead to goals. But that’s just me. Eboue is back from suspension but will probably only make the bench. Hopefully he won’t even be in the stadium. Or if he is, make him pay for a ticket.

With Adebayor still out injured and Eduardo picking up a hamstring problem against Cardiff, Bendtner will partner van Persie. Diaby is not quite ready and could be back for Roma or Fulham. Silvestre could also be close to a return to the squad. Clichy should return to the team after sitting out the win against Cardiff, and Toure and Gallas now seems to be the settled defensive partnership again while Djourou missed a few games through illness.

Subs: Fabianski, Djourou, Ramsey, Diaby, Wilshere, Eboue, Vela.

Sunderland

Nyron Nosworthy could return to their squad after a lengthy layoff with a hamstring injury, Paul McShane and Teemu Tainio are doubts.