Preview: Sunderland vs Arsenal

Well, tomorrow we go up against Roy Keane's men at the Stadium of Light trying to bounce back from the defeat to Hull last weekend. The win against Porto midweek certainly helped with confidence and so it's time to reassert ourselves in the Premiership. This can be accomplished with a comfortable three points this weekend, although getting those cherished points may not be as easy as I make it sound.

Over the summer, Sunderland brought in a number of quality players (and a number of ex-Tottenham players as well), including Cisse and Diouf. This has bolstered their strike force and was supposed to make them more of a strength this season, but in reality, other than beating Tottenham (which at the time looked impressive, but now it looks like the Spurs are a walkover) they haven't done anything significant this season. If we were at home, I would say it would be a fairly straightforward talk to beat them, but as we're at the Stadium of Light, I'm not so sure. Sunderland will fight hard and get in our faces, after all Roy Keane certainly knew what to do against us at Man Utd, but I think we can overcome them with a good bit of skill and speed.

The team for Satuday? I suspect the usual back for and probably the same front pairing as usual (Ade, RVP) but midfield will likely be as Tuesday's. Nasri will want to see some more Premiership action and Walcott has surely played his way into the team; so the lineup should look something like this:
Almunia
Sanga-Toure-Gallas-Clichy
Walcott-Fabregas-Denilson-Nasri
Ade-Van Persie
There shouldn't be too much squad rotation, but maybe Eboue will play. Either way, the lineup will probably be the same as either against Hull or Porto: I'm hoping for the Porto lineup.

If we fight hard and play our game Saturday, zipping the ball around and frustrating Sunderland, then we should have no problems getting the much-needed three points and keeping pressure on the leaders. My prediction? A 2-1 away win for us. Here's hoping we do indeed win Saturday,

Fab 4