Sunderland vs Arsenal - Football - England - Premier League - Tip Preview

A very interesting match in prospect here with Sunderland strong at home but looking to regain winning form while Arsenal come here looking to extend their excellent run of form so this should be a decent match.

Sunderland have had a decent start to the season & up until the moment they beat Liverpool 1-0 at home their start had looked amazing but it has not quite gone for them since then.

Sunderland come into this match with 2 draws & 2 defeats in their last 4 matches so Steve Bruce will be desperate to put that right in this match.

Sunderland have been excellent at home with 4 wins & only 1 defeat so far which should mean the Sunderland players come into this game confident of putting in a good performance & going for the win.

A 2-0 defeat away at Tottenham was Sunderland's most recent league match & despite losing that match, Steve Bruce and the Sunderland players know they played very well in that match so that should give them the determination & belief to be positive against Arsenal.

The key to that positive approach will be the performances of Andy Reid, Steed Malbranque & of course Darren Bent who have been Sunderland's main players so far this season & they represent the main threat to Arsenal.

The one weakness Sunderland appear to have is defensively as they look vulnerable to pace which is clearly a concern against Arsenal & Steve Bruce will be very wary of that threat.

Arsenal come into this match on a fantastic run of form which has seen then stay unbeaten in all competitions since early September.

Arsenal have been playing sensational flowing, football with fluent, precise passing & their attacking prowess has been on full display recently with goals flying in with Cesc Fabregas the creative key to it all.

It is not all good news for Arsenal however with the fact they now face the prospect of being without Robin Van Persie for at least 6 weeks through injury & add to that the loss of Niklas Bendtner that does weaken Arsenal's attacking options somewhat.

This is a massively important match for both teams as Sunderland have to put on a performance & get a good result while Arsenal will look to keep winning so we feel something has to give here & we are going to take a punt on Sunderland getting some pride back by winning this & putting a dent in Arsenal's title challenge