Giroud piles on pain
IT IS now 937 days and counting since David Moyes won a Premier League game.
The last time it happened he was managing Manchester United at Newcastle.
The question is how many more days he will be given to change what is fast becoming a crisis for both him and his club.
Some weeks Sunderland have been unlucky to lose, this week they simply weren’t good enough.
They were wiped out by the Gunners’ three goals in seven minutes after Jermaine Defoe’s penalty had dragged them back into the game.
So how much Sunderland in?
They are the only team in England without a win, they have not kept a clean sheet all season and no club has made a worse start to a campaign in the history of the Premier League.
Are Arsenal the real deal? Well, this is 14 without defeat and at last there is a steely spine to accompany the fluent skills.
Mind you, being unable to beat Arsenal is not exclusively a Moyes problem. It is now just one win in their last 26 Premier League encounters for the Black Cats.
Moyes’ problem is the woeful lack of quality that runs right through this Sunderland team. Poor at the back, poor in midfield, poor up front.
“We are not in a good position and need to play better,” he said. “The players are doing their best, but you will only ever be judged by your results.
“Once we get one or two of the injured players back, that will give us some more options and that will give us a better chance.
“The message is the players are giving everything they can. It was not through the lack of effort, or the lack of trying, they played a team with a lot of quality.”
Arsenal dominated from the first minute, Jordan Pickford tipping over a looping header from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain early on and saving from Mesut Ozil soon after.
It didn’t take too long for
trouble
are Sunderland to be breached and Alexis Sanchez’s 19th minute goal was simple enough, even if it did come at the end of a 22-pass move.
Hector Bellerin collected the ball down the right, eased past Patrick van Aanholt and Sanchez got in front of the much taller and much less alert Lamine Kone to leave Pickford rooted with his header.
By way of response Van Aanholt whipped a free-kick just wide of a post and Jermain Defoe did force the ball over the line, but after Wahbi Khazri had been flagged offside.
With a goal in the bag Arsenal were in complete control.
Sunderland’s cause was not helped by the loss of skipper John O’Shea to a hamstring injury just before the break.
The Black Cats’ frustration could be measured in the yellow card count, Martin Atkinson booking Khazri, Didier Ndong, Steven Pienaar and sub Papy Djilobodji all for fouls inside 14 minutes.
Arsenal, though, continued to squander chances. Sanchez, put through by Ozil in the 55th minute, fired wide. The Chilean also claimed a penalty for a Djilobodji challenge.
And it was that profligacy that meant the Black Cats were still in the game when Duncan Watmore chased a Ndong pass into the box and was brought down by the shoulder of the diving Petr Cech.
The keeper was booked, and Defoe kept his nerve from the spot, scoring decisively.
Parity, however, lasted just six minutes before Giroud, who came on just 60 seconds earlier, got on the end of a Kieran Gibbs cross and steered in with his left foot.
Five minutes later Sunderland went to sleep at an Ozil corner and Giroud headed his second. If that wasn’t game over it certainly was two minutes later when Sanchez tapped in his second and Arsenal’s fourth after Gibbs had struck a post.
Arsene Wenger was delighted with a performance that saw his team go top, but he wasn’t getting carried away.
“It’s where everyone wants to be so we’re not complaining but it’s too early and it’s too tight as well,” he said. “We have so many good teams in the league.
“I would have settled for 2-1 but the last 10 minutes were relaxing.
“Giroud, the first two balls he touched were two goals. When you have quality off the bench it’s easy to make good decisions.”
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