English Premier
2026-02-07 - Arsenal vs Sunderland
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Saturday 7th February 2025 - Kick Off 3pm
Arsenal
The closer you get to the end of the season, the more important it is to come out of a week and say that was a 'big one' for any club with ambitions to meet. This past week could not have gone much better for Mikel Arteta and Arsenal as they reopened a significant lead in the Premier League table and also earned a spot in the League Cup Final for the first time in eight years.
There has been a much longer wait to be crowned English Champions and Arsenal have strengthened as favourites after taking a 6 point lead over Manchester City following results last weekend. They play before their closest title rival again and Arsenal will be looking to really widen that points gap before Manchester City visit Anfield. The Gunners have a 9-2-1 record at the Emirates Stadium in the Premier League this season.
Arsenal's unbeaten record at home was ended by Manchester United in January, but they have bounced back by winning 3 games in a row in all competitions, including a crushing 0-4 win at Leeds United last Saturday. The side have also won twice in a row at the Emirates Stadium since that Premier League loss to Manchester United, although that result does mean Arsenal have failed to win their last 2 League fixtures in front of the home fans.
Martin Odegaard is a doubt for this weekend, but is closer to a return than Bukayo Saka after both picked up issues at Elland Road.
Sunderland
The last couple of seasons have seen the bottom three relegated from the Premier League without making much of an impact in the Division. However, in 2023, Leicester City finished 18th with 34 points and so Sunderland's win over Burnley on Monday night may be the first time that everyone associated with this club feels like they can comfortably state they will avoid dropping back into the Championship.
In reality, Sunderland have put together a really strong campaign through to February and they have moved onto 36 points following the latest win at the Stadium of Light. That means The Black Cats are 8th in the Premier League table and perhaps thinking about Champions League Football rather than Championship Football, although that would need to see a significant improvement in the 2-4-6 away record.
Sunderland had been on a run of 6 games without a victory in normal time through the festive period, but consecutive home League wins have just turned the momentum back in their own favour. The away form continues to be patchy and Sunderland have not won any of the last 7 away Premier League games, while losing back to back fixtures at Brentford and West Ham United.
Granit Xhaka would have loved to be playing at the Emirates Stadium this weekend, but the Sunderland Captain has an injury that is expected to keep him out for the majority of the month.
Head to Head
These teams played out an entertaining 2-2 draw at the Stadium of Light earlier this season.
Arsenal did beat Sunderland 5-1 here in a League Cup Quarter Final in December 2021 and they have won each of the last 4 when hosting The Black Cats.
This will be the first League meeting at the Emirates Stadium since May 2017.
Prediction
Progression to the League Cup Final was hugely celebrated at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday and the fans are feeling that the six year wait for any silverware is going to end with multiple trophies at the end of the 2026 campaign.
Of course the fans are always going to get carried away, but Mikel Arteta and his staff will be focusing on keeping the pressure on the title rivals by opening up a big lead at the top of the Division.
With a game being moved forward from the middle of March, Arsenal have every chance of really driving into a very strong position in the title race, although thinking too far ahead would be a mistake.
This weekend Arsenal are back at home having failed to win either of the last 2 League games here- they are also without a couple of key creative players with Bukayo Saka the big miss, but there is a depth to this squad and Arsenal are expected to find the attacking solutions.
A huge amount of respect has to be given to Sunderland who showed their resiliency and character in the 2-2 draw with Arsenal in the North East.
However, Sunderland have been a different test at the Stadium of Light compared with the away performances and they are without inspirational former Arsenal Captain Granit Xhaka for this fixture.
Regis Le Bris will want his team to show a lot more resiliency than they produced at the London Stadium in the last away game when Sunderland were 3-0 down at half time, but they have struggled for the balance between attack and defence. Just 6 away goals in the top flight underlines that issue away from home and Sunderland have suffered back to back away defeats in London at Brentford and West Ham United.
Set pieces and long throws coupled with some direct football will be used to try and rattle Arsenal, but The Gunners are still giving away very little.
Everything here points to an Arsenal win behind another clean sheet and that looks a decent price compared with asking the home team to cover big Asian lines.
Something like a 2-0 scoreline looks the most likely outcome of this game as Arsenal take another step towards ending a two decade wait to be crowned English Champions again.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Arsenal 2-0 Sunderland
