Arsenal moved nine points clear at the top of the Premier League after a 3-0 victory over Sunderland. Mart\u00edn Zubimendi opened the scoring with a 20-yard strike just before half-time and Viktor Gy\u00f6keres produced a second-half double after coming off the bench to seal the result.<\/p>\n
Arteta had warned about the difficulty of breaking down Sunderland\u2019s compact defence and encouraged attempts from distance. \u201cThe more density there is inside the box and the more contact there is, the more difficult it is to score goals, especially in open play,\u201d Arteta sighed. \u201cIt\u2019s another weapon to have.\u201d Zubimendi\u2019s 20-yard effort proved that point, and, as Arteta stressed after the match, Zubimendi\u2019s opener \u201cbroke\u201d the game open.<\/p>\n
Arsenal targeted shots from range early and often. Forty-four percent of their first-half attempts came from outside the penalty area, producing the goal that set the platform for the win. Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus were described as a physical strike partnership tasked with shooting on sight, and Havertz\u2019s movement created the space for Gy\u00f6keres to finish the match off.<\/p>\n
The performance produced mixed individual returns. Mart\u00edn Zubimendi was the highest-rated starter at 8.3 after his decisive goal and industrious midfield work. Viktor Gy\u00f6keres, introduced at 60 minutes, earned an 8.5 for two composed finishes. David Raya delivered one of his shakiest displays of the season yet was graded 8.1. William Saliba (7.7) and Gabriel (7.8) handled a bruising defensive task, while Leandro Trossard (7.8) left the field clutching his hamstring. Subs Gabriel Martinelli (7.7) and others made important contributions.<\/p>\n
Match statistics underlined Arsenal\u2019s control: possession 50% each, expected goals 1.22 to 0.17, total shots 16 to 5, shots on target 5 to 3, big chances 1 apiece, passing accuracy 84% to 80%, fouls 11 to 8.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Zubimendi’s long-range strike and Gyokeres’s goals carried Arsenal to a 3-0 win and nine-point lead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6622,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,1381,172,689],"tags":[1162,1425],"class_list":["post-6623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-arsenal-match-reports","category-epl","category-sunderland","tag-analytics","tag-calafiori"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}