As if Arsène Wenger were not sufficiently stressed out by injuries and dropped points, he can now see his old rival, Sam Allardyce, riding into town, ready to add to his woes. Allardyce has tightened Sunderland up, led them to morale-boosting victories and he will ask a simple question of Arsenal – ‘Can you break us down?’ The animosity between the two has cooled but there is still no love lost. There could be even less by Saturday evening. David Hytner
Kick-off Saturday 3pm
Venue Emirates Stadium
Last season Arsenal 0 Sunderland 0
Referee Robert Madley
This season G10, Y31, R2, 3.50 cards per game
Odds H 2-7 A 12-1 D 5-1
Arsenal
Subs from Ospina, Macey, Debuchy, Chambers, Gibbs, Iwobi, Walcott, Koscielny, Reine-Adelaide
Doubtful Koscienly (hip), Walcott (calf)
Injured Arteta (calf, 19 Dec), Sánchez (hamstring, 26 Dec), Wilshere (leg, Jan), Rosicky (Jan), Welbeck (Feb), Coquelin (Mar), Cazorla (all knee, Apr)
Suspended None
Form WWWDLD
Discipline Y16 R2
Leading scorer Giroud 7
Sunderland
Subs from Mannone, Brown, Jones, Matthews, Rodwell, Toivonen, Borini, Johnson, Lens, Graham
Doubtful None
Injured Defoe (hamstring, 12 Dec), Larsson (knee, 12 Dec)
Suspended None
Form LWLLWW
Discipline Y31 R2
Leading scorers Defoe, Fletcher 4
