Arsenal continued to pile the pressure on their title rivals with another three points after dominating a Sunderland side that are destined for Championship football.
It was a game that needed a lot of Gunners to stand up and be counted, with a trio of first-choice players missing through injury Wenger was forced to make changes.
Kieran Gibbs and Oxlade-Chamberlain were both introduced to the starting line-up for the first time this season, and they didn’t disappoint after being thrown into the deep.
A brace for each of Alexis and Olivier Giroud helped to cancel out Jermaine Defoe’s second half penalty, and leave Arsene Wenger the most relaxed manager during Saturday afternoon.
You can check out how the players did by looking at our in-depth ratings here, but first check out the three main talking points as Arsenal continue to sit top of the table.
1 – Giroud IS Vital
If anybody needed evidence of why Giroud remains such an important part of our squad, his performance today should answer a lot of questions.
The Frenchman came on just after Sunderland snatched their equaliser and immediately things started to change, with the legs of Alexis dropping to more of a left-wing role.
Giroud bagged two goals in quick succession, both with his first touch and both using quick reactions to put Arsenal back in front at 3-1.
The Gunners had eight corners in the whole game, only three of them were when Giroud was on the pitch and he managed to head home when left to challenge Sunderland in the air.
It happened during Middlesbrough last weekend and it was beginning to happen here, our attacks became predictable and Sunderland soon became comfortable with dealing with them.
On comes Giroud and all of a sudden things start to change, his presence at centre forward allows us to attack as more of a unit, cutting out the build-up and having success whilst putting crosses into the penalty area.
Is he going to start ahead of Alexis? No. But he’s so versatile to the Chilean that defences have to change their setup as soon as he’s on, and that can cause havoc nine times out of ten.