The first half was scoreless, though both teams had chances. Frustrating, right? There were a lot of empty seats, the fans getting a jump on protesting the mismatch between ticket prices and results. The Gunners better pick it up if they are going to put any pressure on Liverpool. Back after full time...
They did pick it up, and the three points too. Sunderland reverted to form, and were ineffective, except for their superb young goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, without whom the score would have been at least 4-0 instead of just 2-0. The goals were nice: Ozil presented Alexis with a tap-in at about 70 minutes, and Alexis scored a header from very close range when Pickford saved an athletic bid from Giroud. A few comments:
Cech was excellent. He made a couple of very good saves, and came far out of the goal to prevent dangerous situations that could have turned out to be breakaways. He also had to deal with a crazy backpass from my man Monreal that he could only save with his hands, resulting in an indirect free kick just at the intersection of the endline and the six yard line. The game was scoreless, early in the second half, and it might have been a disaster.
Other than Nacho's error, the back three looked commanding. Holding carried forward once and was not far from scoring a goal.
Alexis and Xhaka dwell on the ball too long. Both lost it very avoidably, more than once. It's OK to have the ball stolen when they're crowded out, or to lose it trying an ambitious pass; but having it taken off your foot by a guy who's overtaken you in space is not OK. Just pass the damned thing!
Ozil got a yellow for dissent, which was as interested as he seemed to get today. He played well, but does he ever invest himself fully? Alexis makes a lot of mistakes, but he's always "all in". He's one goal behind Lukaku ( and one ahead of Kane) for the golden boot.
Giroud put in a good shift, and was unfortunate to be robbed by Pickford a couple times. He was wrestled away from a corner once too; it probably should have been a first-half PK.
Subs: Iwobi came on and looked decent, as did Welbeck. Walcott got a late chance and was found deep in Sunderland territory, but nothing came of it. Ramsey came off with an injury; I hope it's not serious.
City beat a limp West Brom, so that leaves Liverpool as the only team we might overtake for 4th. They have to drop points at home to Middlesbrough (let's hope Callum Chambers has a good day) and of course we need to beat Everton at the Emirates. And regardless of the final standings, we have to avoid serious injuries or red cards to field our strongest team in the FA Cup final.
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