Four-goal Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool leading way in EPL

Arsene Wenger was delighted with Olivier Giroud’s goalscoring return on Saturday as he came off the bench to help fire Arsenal to a 4-1 victory over Sunderland.

Giroud got in front of his marker Papy Djilobodji at the near post and then put in a attractive, flicked header which arched over the Sunderland goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.

Despite a nervy few moments midway through the second half, Arsenal regrouped and blew away Premier League bottom-dwellers Sunderland 4-1 today in league action at the Stadium of Light.

Heaton left United six years ago without a first-team appearance to his name and, now 30, returned to haunt United on Saturday, producing a stunning display in the Burnley goal as a pulsating match ended 0-0.

“If you lose goals to Arsenal with great interplay then you hold your hands up but I’m disappointed we lost two goals to crosses”.

“When they score goals you have no headache”. The Gunners rode their luck at times – Cech, in particular, was lucky to stay on the pitch – but this was a comfortable win in the end.

It arrived at the culmination of a 22-pass move that was an exercise in retaining possession.

“A hard place to come” may seem like a cliche used for when a big club plays a relatively smaller one, but it’s an apt description for Sunderland versus Arsenal – even if the statistics bode well for the Gunners.

Under pressure from the off, the Black Cats barely made a foray forward, as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mesut Ozil and Sanchez all troubled Jordan Pickford with strikes.

Later on in the half, Ozil’s weak lob was easily saved by the Sunderland goalkeeper after the German playmaker had been put clean through by Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Indeed, when the half-time whistle was blown, the only real surprise was that Sunderland were only a goal behind.

However, Sunderland were awarded a penalty after 64 minutes when Watmore was brought down by Petr Cech. The teams in 17th place up to mid-table look stronger than usual, with an influx of television money giving every Premier League team plenty of cash to strengthen in the summer.

Sunderland (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Jones, O’Shea (Djilobodji 41), Kone, van Aanholt; Rodwell, Ndong; Khazri, Pienaar (Januzaj 70), Watmore (Gooch 84); Defoe.