Post Match Reaction: Sunderland (H)

After dominating for the entire match, a moment of set piece magic from Sebastien Larsson looked to have robbed Arsenal of a crucial victory. Cue Robin Van Persie, who's late free-kick of his own saw the Gooners take a deserved three points.

Positives:
Van Persie declared his commitment to the club in the matchday programme following reports he was planning to join Manchester City - and then backed that up with his match-winning display on the pitch. First with our fastest ever goal in the Premier League (just 29 seconds!)and then almost doubling the lead after 12 minutes with a sublime piece of skill, turning effortlessly on the edge of the box before spotting Mignolet off his line but chipping his effort onto post in an outrageous display of skill. His late winner was a sublime cherry on the cake and the 29th Premier League goal (23 goals, six assists) he has been involved in since 16 October of last year.
Meanwhile, Wojciech Szceszcny pulled off the save of the season so far at the other end - a superb point blank stop from Lee Cattermole.

Negatives:
Once more, after a large period of domination, all our hard work was undone with a lapse in concentration as Mikel Arteta's needless handball resulted in Larsson's pin-point free-kick. The confidence was then visibly drained from the team until Van Persie's late winner whilst Rosicky was once more absymal, giving the ball away needlessly time after time.

Conclusion:
Three more points see us clamber back into the top half as we look to scurry up the table and make up for our woeful start to the season, yet there is still alot more to come from this team. A point backed up by Monsieur Wenger who had this to say:

"The spirit in the team is exceptional and in the second half we just came out and played in their half. We are growing as a team and getting stronger and stronger. Robin van Persie is a special player and he's shown that again today. He's blessed at the moment and let's touch wood with his injuries. He's shown what a great player he is when he can be consistently playing. We have answered a few critics but not enough and there is a lot more for us to show."