Sunderland vs Arsenal: A game of two halves

Sunderland started tough, and pressed Arsenal hard, in contrast to their first half strategy of sitting back. The players looked energized from the half time team talk and Altidore was in the thick of the action. The centre forward was proving to be too hot to handle for the Arsenal defence with his strong running with the ball and his brilliant hold up play.

The tables seemed to have turned with Sunderland now the team looking most likely to score the next goal, and that is exactly what happened.

With Altidore on the ball, the defensive shape of the Gunners was lost for once, with Laurent Koscielny left to deal with him alone inside the box after Sagna had failed to snatch the ball from him.

Koscielny went into the tackle and tripped Adam Johnson inside the area for a simple penalty decision for the referee. Craig Gardner slotted the spot kick home to agonize the Arsenal fans further, who were already beginning to rue their missed chances.

Craig Gardner slotted home the penalty for Sunderland

The Sunderland onslaught continued, but the Black Cats were caught surprised when a hopeful cross from Carl Jenkinson found Aaron Ramsey with his first time shot.

The Welshman spectacularly volleyed the ball into the back of the net. Arsenal were leading again, but this time, more by chance rather than creativity.

However, the joy was seriously threatened when Altidore again found space at the edge of the box, wrestling easily away from Sagna, amid protests from the Arsenal players and slotted the ball inside the goal line before the defender cleared it out with a diving kick.

Sunderland, and everyone else in the stadium had thought that it was the equalizer, but Martin Atkinson had other views and instead pulled the play back for a free kick against Sagna on the edge of the box. Controversy galore. Adam Johnson skied the set piece.

The result was settled when after some nifty passing by Arsenal in front of the box, the ball was sent to Ozil who played it to Giroud, who passed it into the path of Aaron Ramsey who had timed his run perfectly through the defensive line. Ramsey slotted home from under the keeper for his brace while Arsenal fans jumped with jubilation.

Set up by Ozil and Giroud, Aaron Ramsey completed a brace against Sunderland

The scoreline was 1-3, and Sunderland were down and out of the competition. Another opportunity presented Arsenal when Jenkinson crossed from the right towards Olivier Giroud, who tried to stretch too much to meet the ball and in the process, seemed to have pulled a muscle. With no senior striker fit in the squad, Wenger was prompt in substituting the striker for the young Chuba Akpom.

The four minutes of added time passed without much action except from the sidelines where Paolo di Canio was ticked off by the fourth official for being too vocal against the referee, allowing Arsenal to waste time on injuries. This was another in a chain of bad days at the office for the mercurial manager.

On the other side, Wenger was looking composed in his suit. As the full time whistle blew, all the focus was on Aaron Ramsey with his two goals. The second half was anything but like the first. Arsenal were lucky throughout the match, though poor finishing from Walcott almost let them down.

However, the occasion was set up for one man and he rose up to it magnificently. Mesut Ozil.