Arsenal head to the Stadium of Light to face Sunderland.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is expecting to face a tough defence when his side face Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, speaking ahead of Saturday’s lunchtime clash, as quoted by Sunderland’s official website.
The Gunners have had an excellent start to the season, sitting second behind leaders Manchester City on goal difference, while Sunderland are rock bottom of the Premier League, having failed to win any of their first nine games under David Moyes.
Despite their troubles, Wenger thinks he knows what to expect from the Black Cats.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger
“David Moyes is an experienced manager who has 15 seasons in the Premier League,” Wenger said, as quoted by safc.com.
“They’ll defend very well and catch us on moments in the breaks and on set pieces.”
The Frenchman expects the team that have failed to keep a clean sheet this season to defend well, and is worried about their threat from set pieces despite the Black Cats not scoring from a dead ball situation since Moyes took over, other than Jermain Defoe’s penalty against Southampton.
Sunderland’s John O’Shea, Patrick van Aanholt and Jermain Defoe after the match
While Wenger is unlikely to talk down about Sunderland’s defensive efforts, it seems hard to imagine that he thinks his opponents have defended well this season. Schoolboy errors at the back have been the undoing of Sunderland this season, with countless mistakes costing Moyes vital Premier League points.
Last week’s defeat to West Ham was the closest Sunderland have came to a clean sheet, but a sloppily defended corner allowed Winston Reid to break red and white hearts in the 94th minute.
Sunderland manager David Moyes remonstrates with the fourth official
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