Sanchez Stars As Gunners Triumph

 

The Chile international capitalised on two errors from the hosts to take his tally to five goals in eight Premier League appearances this season

Alexis Sanchez’s double handed Arsenal a 2-0 victory over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light today.

Arsene Wenger’s men have now recorded three wins in the Premier League this season and move into fifth place, eight points behind leaders Chelsea who travel to Manchester United on Sunday.

Sunderland headed into the fixture off the back of an 8-0 hammering at the hands of Southampton last Saturday and another two lapses in defence were responsible for their third league defeat of the campaign.

In the 30th minute, Wes Brown attempted to control a lofted ball forward from Per Mertesacker but his back-pass to Vito Mannone was under-hit and it allowed Alexis to steal in and easily finish.

The Chile international netted his second in injury time after Mannone failed to control Patrick van Aanholt's back-pass, which presented the Arsenal winger with an empty goal.

Arsene Wenger, without the suspended Jack Wilshere, made three changes, with Wojciech Szczesny returning in goal having been suspended in midweek and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Mikel Arteta given starts.

That meant Emiliano Martinez and Aaron Ramsey had to settle for places on the bench, where they were joined by Theo Walcott - who was appearing for the first time having spent nine months on the sidelines with a cruciate injury