Eboue Dazzles As Bendtner Begins To Fulfill Potential

What a difference a year makes. Twelve months on from being booed off the park by his own fans, Emmanuel Eboue, the Arsenal full back, produced an eye-catching display as his side once again crept back into the Premier League title race with a 2-0 victory over Sunderland at the Emirates Stadium.

After a jaded looking Manchester United slipped to a 3-1 defeat against Everton in Saturday’s early kick off, the pressure was on the Gunners to make amends for their own stumbling form of late, which included a defeat of the same margin to the champions, in a vain attempt to resurrect their faultering title bid.

Arsene Wenger made sweeping changes to the team that started Wednesday nights now infamous defeat to Porto in the Champions League, which included the axing of error-prone goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski. But it was the much maligned Ivorian who shone, with surging runs from full back and sublime combinations with Theo Walcott that menaced George McCartney, the Sunderland left back, all afternoon.

He combined well with fellow Arsenal scape goat Nicklas Bendtner – who contributed an outstanding shift of his own – to the put the Gunners ahead in the 27th minute. After outstripping Darren Bent, the Sunderland defence allowed Eboue the time and space to supply a low ball for the arriving Bendtner to tap in from close range.

The Dane had already rattled the crossbar of Sunderland goalkeeper Craig Gordon prior to putting his side ahead, as the imposing striker sought to silence critics of his own with a performance that oozed the sort of maturity that has perhaps been lacking from the earlier days of his young career.

Arsenal began to live dangerously as half time approached when Kenwyne Jones threatened to restore parity after being put through one-on-one with the returning Manuel Almunia. But the Trinidad & Tobago striker slotted wide of the post from 18-yards out and the Gunners retained a lead of which they were good value for at the break.

The Black Cats rarely threatened in the second period, but had a credible penalty claim waved away by referee Steve Bennett when Mikael Silvestre appeared to tug on the shirt of Darren Bent.

Wenger will probably have been more relieved than his fellow Frenchman – but only because he would have had to dip into his ever-expanding bag of excuses to justify his sides defensive frailties for the second time in the space of four days.

With the game nearing its conclusion, nerves began to jangle around the Emirates as Sunderland went on an attack that the hosts scrambled away and broke quickly from, which resulted in skipper Cesc Fabregas being felled in the penalty area clumsily by Fraizer Campbell.

The Spaniard stepped up to convert for his twelfth goal of this Premiership campaign and put the contest beyond any doubt, closing the gap on second-placed Manchester United to just two points.

The defeat for Sunderland now leaves Steve Bruce’s side hovering precariously above the relegation places, and without a win since their 1-0 triumph in the reverse of this fixture at the Stadium of Light back in November.

ARSENAL 2 (Bendtner 27, Fabregas (pen) 90)

Team: Almunia, Eboue (Denilson 89), Silvestre, Vermaelen, Clichy, Ramsey, Song, Fabregas, Walcott (Sagna 78), Nasri (Rosicky 72), Bendtner

Unused Subs: Fabianski, Campbell, Traore, Vela

Booked: Fabregas

SUNDERLAND 0

Team: Gordon, McCartney (Bardsley 85), Turner, Ferdinand, Hutton, Mensah, Richardson (Zenden 76), Cana, Campbell, Jones (Benjani 78), Bent

Unused Subs: Carson, Da Silva, Kilgallon, Malbranque

Booked: Turner, Ferdinand, Hutton, Cana, Richardson