Arsenal are looking to capture their fourth consecutive Premier League and further boost their chances of finishing inside the top four when they face already relegated Sunderland at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday. The Gunners won the reverse fixture 4-1 in October, with Olivier Giroud and Alexis Sanchez scoring two goals apiece on that occasion. Sunderland have not beaten Arsenal since 2012, when they recorded a FA Cup success, while the last time they have defeated the Gunners in the Premier league was in 2009.
Arsenal seem to have recovered just in time for a late push towards a top-four finish, they won their last three Premier League matches and now they find themselves just three points behind Manchester City and four points behind Liverpool but with a game in hand on the Reds. Last weekend the Gunners recorded a 4-1 victory at Stoke City and Olivier Giroud scored twice in that game as well. Laurent Koscielny and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain picked up knocks and might miss out, and Alexis Sanchez could also sit this one out due to a groin problem.
Sunderland have nothing left to fight for, their only possible achievement at this point would be to climb away from the last place in the Premier League table. They would need two wins out of two to achieve that, and since their last game of the season is at Chelsea that seems highly unlikely. They did manage to drag Hull City to the Championship with them two weeks ago after recording their sixth Premier League victory of the season. Paddy McNair, Duncan Watmore, Jan Kirchhoff and Bryan Oviedo remain injured.
Probable line-ups:
Arsenal: Cech - Holding, Mustafi, Monreal - Bellerin, Ramsey, Xhaka, Gibbs - Welbeck, Ozil - Giroud
Sunderland: Pickford - Jones, Kone, O'Shea, Manquillo - Ndong, Cattermole, Larsson - Borini, Defoe, Khazri
My prediction: Arsenal to win 3-0.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Arsenal win - 1.11
Draw - 11.00
Sunderland win - 26.00
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