Olivier Giroud atoned for his sins for a first-half own goal as Arsenal defeated struggling Sunderland 3-1 on Saturday to move up to second place in the Premier League table.
The London club took advantage of Manchester City’s 2-0 defeat at Stoke City and Manchester United’s failure to beat West Ham United by registering their first win in four league games.
It was a timely boost ahead of next week’s must-win Champions League trip to Olympiakos, where Arsene Wenger’s side must prevail by two clear goals to reach the knockout phase.
Joel Campbell scored the Gunners first goal in the 33rd minute and Giroud restored their lead mid-way through the second half after he had gifted the visitors an equaliser on the stroke of half-time, with Aaron Ramsey wrapping up the win in added time.
The victory helped to draw a line under another testing week for Wenger after the loss of Alexis Sanchez and Santi Cazorla to injury following last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Norwich City.
Cazorla is expected to be out for at least three months after damaging knee ligaments, while no return date has yet been set for the return of Sanchez, who pulled a hamstring at Carrow Road.
Wenger could at least call on fit-again centre-back Laurent Koscielny, while Theo Walcott was back in the squad for the first time since late October after recovering from a calf problem.
Sunderland arrived at the Emirates Stadium on the back of successive wins –- they had won just one their opening 12 league games -– that had lifted them out of the relegation places.
Their growing confidence was immediately apparent as Fabio Borini was sent clear in the fourth minute and wasted a good opportunity by shooting straight at Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cec
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