Arsene Wenger was scared that Sunderland would seal an unlikely win over his Arsenal side.
The Gunners struggled to put the game away in the opening exchanges, despite taking an early lead in the first-half, and the three points looked like they were to allude Arsene Wenger’s side.
Sunderland equalised through a deserved penalty kick, and the Black Cats looked to try and build on that goal, but thankfully after bringing Olivier Giroud on with just over 20 minutes to go, he scored with his first two touches of the ball.
The French manager has now claimed it feels like his side passed a test, but he had felt like they would be punished for not being clinical enough in front of goal.
He said: “It was a mental test when we were at 1-1. We missed so many chances, so many opportunities and I was worried we could lose, but we have shown great strength to bounce back. In the Premier League at 1-1 you can lose the game but it was how we respond. Do we panic, give up, feel sorry for ourselves?
“We responded well and in the end it was a comfortable win. It was an important result for us. We had six wins, then one draw at home which was disappointing and a second draw or defeat would have been like we had dropped our level.”
The win helped us to keep pace at the top of the table, with both Liverpool and Manchester City picking up impressive wins, and we remain joint-top of the league with 23 points.
I think we all felt like the Northerners were about to get a shock point if not more after the penalty, which would have been typical of our side, but thankfully Giroud came back fighting for his place, and was amazing.
How important could this weekend’s win prove to be? Was anyone still confident of the three points after the equaliser?
Pat J
Had to laugh when Pienaar was subbed, and he kissed the Addidas badge rather than the Sunderland badge… Was that in error?
If Addidas gave me a nice boot deal, free footwear, and clothing the rest of my life, I too would kiss that badge even though I hate those bloody stripes. I will say though they use to make really nice German national kit stuff, I loved the old west German tracksuit top despite the stripes.
I think we all feared it might be one of those days. I must admit I felt the same way as Henry felt when he said that he believed Giroud would score as he was preparing to come on.
I’d like to say some of the stick Elneny’s getting is way off base. First of all you need to look at the pecking order. Then yeah Elneny plays it safe but that’s no reason to hate on him, he’s a defensive player, a safety net. Ramsey gets ripped to shreds for being a risk taker, people for years said he should learn how to play the simple ball, ie the safe ball. Elneny a defensive midfielder then gets ripped to shreds for doing just that. These people are a little bit mindless at times. I’m chuffed with all options in this area.
Cazorla the perfect balance, which is why we need him back as soon as possible. Elneny’s side passes don’t help in games at Emirates where we have bulk of possession anyways and need to break a team down. I thought he was good against Sunderland though.