Arsenal cruised to a comfortable 4-1 victory over struggling side Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.

The match got off to a quiet start during the opening exchanges of the match but the Gunners find the opening in the 19th minute when Alexis Sanchez put his side in front with a powerful header from an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain cross.

The Black Cats were dealt a major blow in the 38th minute when captain John O’Shea was forced off the field with a hamstring injury.

The Gunners pressed forward in search of more goals and had a few chances in the final third but Sunderland goalkeeper Jordan Goalkeeper was on hand to deny Arsene Wenger side to keep the score at 1-0.

However, the Black Cats were awarded a penalty in the 64th minute when Duncan Watmore was brought down by Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech and Jermaine Defoe stepped up to take the penalty and made no mistake to slot home the spot-kick to level the score at 1-1.

Olivier Giroud made an instant impact since coming on as a substitute when he gave the visitors the lead after he turned home Keiran Gibb’s low cross inside the six-yard box.

The Gunners soon grabbed a third goal in the 75th minute when Giroud rose well to head home after latching onto a Mesut Ozil’s corner.

The match was to bed two minutes later when Sanchez showed great composure in the area to beat the Black Cats shot-stopper and defender to poke home into the back of the net as the Gunners ran out 4-1 winners over Sunderland.

Image: Premier League website