Arsenal 2-0 Sunderland: In Focus - Sanchez

Aditya Devavrat 02:02 17/05/2017
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  • After a dire first half against a relegated Sunderland side, Arsenal cranked up the pressure in the second period to record a 2-0 victory to keep their hopes of finishing in the top four alive.

    Alexis Sanchez finished from close range twice, first from Mesut Ozil’s cut-back and then from Sunderland keeper Pickford’s save of a Olivier Giroud header across goal.

    Here, we focus on the Chilean’s performance.

    BASIC STATS

    Goals – 2

    Assists –  0

    Shots – 9

    Pass Accuracy – 57%

    Passes –  28

    Key Passes – 0

    Touches – 54

    Dribbles – 4

    Dispossessed – 4

    EFFECTIVENESS

    In the first half, Sanchez was his usual busy self, but other than a disallowed goal, ruled out for a big deflection off of Olivier Giroud’s arm, he was unable to have enough of an impact.

    Indeed, by the time he found the net for a legitimate goal, Sanchez had begun cutting the frustrated figure he had been a few months ago.

    However, he remained his usual energetic self, and followed up his first strike with another just under ten minutes later to ensure that Arsenal would not slip up in their pursuit of a Champions League place.

    KEY MOMENTS

    9th min: Sanchez nearly gave Arsenal the perfect start with a long-range strike, but it was rightly disallowed, as replays showed the shot had struck Giroud’s arm on its way into the back of the net, and was thus ruled out for handball. 

    72nd min: As Arsenal grew more and more frustrated, Sanchez seemed to embody his team’s mood, getting annoyed with teammates and generally angry at the lack of incision. Then came the goal, with Granit Xhaka playing a beautiful ball over the top which Ozil cushioned into Sanchez’s path for a simple finish.

    81st min: Sunderland never looked like finding an equaliser, but there’s no guarantee of a win at 1-0. Sanchez made sure there was no nervy finish, scoring from close range again after Giroud’s header was saved.

    OUR VERDICT

    It was a performance that typified Sanchez’s season. Time and again, he has been the difference maker for Arsenal, coming through for the team when it looked like they would slip up. So it proved to be on Tuesday night, as a frustrating game was turned into a cruise thanks to Sanchez’s goals.

    Sanchez is now only one goal behind Romelu Lukaku in the race for the Premier League Golden Boot, and the two face-off on Sunday as the Gunners host Everton. It will be a straight shot for that particular accolade – although Spurs man Harry Kane, who is a goal behind Sanchez with an extra game to play, will have his own say in that race.

    8/10

    YOUR VERDICT

    All statistics are compiled using whoscored.com

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