Sunderland away are not very threatening this season:W2 D4 L6. Their last win on the road was at Stanford Bridge in October. (They are the only team that remain undefeated at home.) Sunderland haven’t won a league match at the Emirates since 1983.
The Black Cats went out of the EFL Cup in August, but remain in the FA Cup with their 4th-round match coming in a week against Oxford United. We play third-tier Wigan Athletic on the same day.
Former Gunner captain Granit Xhaka will not be available for his return to the Emirates due to an ankle injury that may keep him sidelined for a month. He has 22 starts this season, and leads Sunderland in assists with 5.
Team News
We’re going to Wembley! Arsenal have advanced to the final of the EFL Cup to be held on Sunday, March 22 against Manchester City.
League Race: Villa and City dropped points last weekend, while the Gunners dispatched Leeds with ease. Arsenal are now 6 points clear at the top with 14 left to play. Liverpool play City tomorrow, and Bournemouth play Villa. Wolves cannot mathematically win the league anymore.
For a short time during the Leeds match, “Own Goal” was tied as the top Arsenal scorer. But then Gyorkeres scored (taking him to 6) and a later review re-attributed the Leeds OG to Madueke.
Zinchenko and Tomiyasu are now both at Ajax.
After today, the number of matches to left to play is 13 in the PL, 2 to 7 in UCL, 1 to 5 in the FA Cup, and 1 in the EFL Cup. All together that ranges from 17 to 26 matches remaining.
St.Totteringham’s Day is the day when Tottenham can no longer hope to finish above us in the league. This year it could happen on the same day as a North London Derby. It was no longer possible to be that day until the matchday 31 Wolves match was moved up to accommodate our EFL Cup final. If the sum of the points we drop from our next three (SUN,BRE,WOL), and the points Spurs get from their next two (MUN, NEW) is less than 3, STD can be celebrated with a win against Tottenham on February 22.
February 3 – Kai Havertz scored the only goal in the home leg against Chelsea in the League Cup. Arsenal advanced by a 4-2 aggregate score.
