Arsenal vs Sunderland Premier League preview: Injuries, Suspensions, and Predicted Lineups

Looking at who is fit, who misses out, and how the Gunners could line up this weekend

The away days keep on keepin’ on after Arsenal’s successful visit to Naples on Wednesday in the Champions League. The Gunners return to England for their 4th Premier League tie of the season, this time heading north to the Stadium of Light to face last season’s surprise side Sunderland on Saturday.

Arsenal found it tough going against the Black Cats last October when they drew 2-2 after Brian Brobbey scored a stoppage time equalizer to end Arsenal’s 10 match winning run across all competitions. The Gunners were hardly the only side to find themselves leaving Tyneside without a victory, as Sunderland were one of the league’s better home sides after returning to England’s top flight.

The season is early yet, but Arsenal have already improved on some of last season’s performances after securing a win at Aston Villa on match day 2. Getting all 3 points on Saturday will put them 4 points better than the same fixtures last season as well as a providing a little extra daylight on the PL table. Sunderland have their first Europa League fixture coming up, which may give manager Regis Le Bris some food for thought ahead of their first European cup tie in over 50 years.

Let’s look at who is fit, who is out, and how the Gunners might line up to face Sunderland on Saturday.

Arsenal’s trip to Italy was a pretty straightforward affair, and the Gunners returned without any new injuries reported (so far). William Saliba remains the lone long-term layoff as he recovers from a back injury.

Jurrien Timber is working his way back to fitness after resuming first team training this week. With any luck, he will be available for selection as early as this weekend.

OUT: William Saliba (back)
DOUBT: Jurrien Timber (groin), Cristhian Mosquera (hamstring)

After making way for Eberechi Eze on Wednesday, the Greek winger is poised to return to the starting XI. Eze did fine, but Tzolis’ style is much more suited to a more attack-minded approach. Considering Arsenal’s struggle to put Sunderland away at the Stadium of Light last season, it’s a pretty safe bet that he starts to help the Gunners strike early.

Is the Viktor Gyökeres experiment already over? The Swede started midweek and was one of three players in Arsenal’s starting lineup to not register one of Arsenal’s 28 shots. The other two? Ezri Konsa and David Raya. Arsenal were all over the hosts, and even still, he struggled to get involved. He has a role to play, but it feels increasingly more likely that he gets moved on by season’s end, if not January.

Kai Havertz was immense last weekend against Chelsea, but that’s a given considering how much he dislikes his former employer. He came on for the final 20 minutes against Napoli and was largely quiet, but looked more involved than Viktor, notching four more touches (13) than the Swede did all match (9).

Saka put in a performance on Wednesday that I’m sure he is happy to put behind him. He wasn’t poor by any stretch, but he simply couldn’t find the net despite 6 shots and accumulating an xG of 1.04. He has had a solid season so far, and you can only miss shots when you’re getting in positions to take them. He takes the right on Saturday.

Declan Rice puts in quality shifts with such regularity that they have a tendency to fly under the radar. Wednesday wasn’t his best, but it didn’t need to be as Napoli were content to sit deep most of the match. His 113 touches were second only to the sublime Ødegaard as Rice and the captain kept the ball cycling.

The elephant in the room continues to be Rice’s minutes. He was gassed by the end of last season before going to the World Cup. He was back in the lineup for the first match, and hasn’t really gotten any proper breaks. If he isn’t selected, I imagine Bruno Guimarães gets a start after a solid cameo in relief for Merino at Napoli.

MLS was given the night off on Wednesday and watched from the bench as his teammates made relatively easy work of the hosts (finishing aside). Arsenal’s midfield rotation is deep, but the Hale End grad is in no threat of losing match time as he has been a major cog so far and only continues to improve. He thrives in crowded parks and has really grown in his capacity to break a press and progress the ball.

What a season it has been for the captain so far. In 5 competitive matches, he has scored 4 times, with 2 of those goals being the decisive ones. His long-range strike on Wednesday was possibly his best of the bunch, pinging it off the far post to give the Gunners a 1-0 victory to start their Champions League campaign while also creating 3 big chances and winning more duels than the rest of his teammates bar Mikel Merino. He looks reborn this season, and it’s hard to imagine a player in world football enjoying a better spell than the skipper right now.

Defense: Calafiori, Gabriel, Konsa, White

Like MLS, Calafiori was an unused sub in his return to Italy. He has been a massive contributor through the beginning of the season but the ever-present concern about his fitness means that Arteta has to pick and choose Cala’s moments carefully. Thankfully, his unique talents were unnecessary on Wednesday. The summer off seems to have done him some good, and like Ødegaard, he’s shown new levels to his game since the season began last month.

Sunrise. Sunset. Big Gabi (and now the only Gabi) starts for the Gunners. He was rarely troubled against Napoli but helped keep their limited chances at bay.

The latest signing for the Arsenal has shown his value almost immediately while adding a little bite to the back line. He isn’t reckless, but he’s got a little fire in him that comes out from time to time. He was a calm and composed presence at the back and looks to be building a great rapport with Gabriel.

The right back position is so close to having depth back with Timber in training and Cristhian Mosquera recovering from his knock. Until then, it’s Ben White’s job. He’s looked surprisingly sharp considering his injury history, but some players are just unique in that way. Martin Zubimendi was a sub at right back against Napoli, though I think (read: hope) that it was strictly a “break glass in case of emergency” sort of deployment.

Sunderland away last season was a match that Raya will want to make amends for. He’s a brilliant shot stopper, but even the best of the best have their down days. This fixture last season was a prime example after he made a questionable attempt on Brobbey’s equalizer. He will no doubt be eager for a do-over on Saturday.

Mikel Arteta confirmed the star winger would not be available this weekend.

Be respectful in your interactions with contributors and fellow fans. Go here to read our community guidelines.

Reminder: Trolling of any sort, especially going to rival sites and trolling, is expressly against the rules. If you do it, you'll most likely be permanently banned.

• Go to the My Profile tab for your comment history and preferences
• C key scrolls forwards through comments / shift-C scrolls backwards
• Z key jumps to Next Unread / shift-A marks all comments on your screen as read

More tips here. If you’d like to report a bug, email us at support@sbnation.com. If you have a moderation issue, please email moderation@sbnation.com.