That’s all from me. Louise Taylor has filed her match report from the Stadium of Light …
Related: Guimarães and Saka fire Arsenal to win at Sunderland after Raya spot-kick save
Arsenal go top of the Premier League before the Manchester derby tomorrow. Sunderland stay in the bottom half …
That’ll feel particularly sweet for Bruno Guimaraes, who scored such a wonderful opener on his return to the north east. The former Newcastle midfielder was booed throughout after his introduction at the break. Mikel Arteta’s decision to add a bit of poise to his midfield at half-time paid off.
Well, that was a battle. Sunderland were excellent, Arsenal resilient in their own way. Two key moments of quality decided it – the Raya penalty save and the Guimaraes goal that followed. Saka’s spot-kick at the end adds a bit of gloss to the scoreline.
Full time: Sunderland 0-2 Arsenal
The champions win again! Four out of four to start the season.
GOAL! Sunderland 0-2 Arsenal (Saka 90+7pen)
Saka goes bottom right and Roefs gets a hand to it but can only push it into the side-netting. All over.
Updated
Penalty to Arsenal and red card for Reinildo!
Arsenal go up the end with Saka, who is being tugged into the area by Reinildo. As Saka goes to shoot, there’s enough contact to send him to the floor and John Brooks points to the spot. It’s a second yellow and a red for Reinildo. Saka will take to seal the points …
90+5 min: Roefs launches a free-kick forward. Ballard gets his head on another long ball forward but Brobbey can’t latch on to it before it reaches Raya.
90+4 min: Mukiele stops Merino on the edge of the Sunderland box. Brobbey gets his team up the pitch and throws himself at a Fofana cross but can’t get the right connection.
90+3 min: Arsenal win a throw in the corner but Havertz gives away a foul and goes into the book. Mukiele gives him a shove for good measure.
90+1 min: Six added minutes are announced after things have calmed down.
90 min: There’s handbags on the touchline as Guimaraes rolls around after a challenge – then rolls back on to the pitch. Isidor is the most aggrieved. Gabriel and Mukiele go on the book.
89 min: Saka escapes a booking for a trip on Danso. Sunderland send the big lads forward for Xhaka’s free-kick. Sunderland win a throw down the right – Mukiele launches it this time. Gabriel ends up on the deck and it’s a free-kick.
87 min: Xhaka is in charge of midfield now. Arsenal have a rare foray forward and Eze miscues a cross that lands behind the goal. Sunderland come again.
85 min: Big chance for Sunderland! Xhaka delivers a devilish cross into the middle and it bounces just in front of Raya, who flings his glove at it. The ball springs high and the goalkeeper gets there again, winning a free-kick in the melee. Merino replaces Odegaard.
84 min: Great effort from Mukiele! The ball bounces loose in the area and the defender’s scissor kick flies on to the roof of the net.
82 min: Arsenal changes – Eze and Zubimendi replace Rice and Tzolis. Feels risky taking Rice off now, but the man needs all the rest he can get. Zubimendi concedes a corner …
81 min: Gabriel makes himself even more unpopular by falling theatrically backwards when Brobbey gives him a shove in the chest. The striker goes into the book as Gabriel grimaces in ‘pain’ on the floor.
80 min: Sunderland are still creating openings and look dangerous. Fofana is causing Timber a few problems down the left wing. Arsenal are happy to sit and defend.
78 min: Timber has the ball in the net! He heads in an Odegaard free-kick but the assistant’s flag goes up straight away. Correct decision.
77 min: A Fofana cut-back causes utter carnage in the Arsenal box. Mukiele goes down under a challenge, then Isidor tries a backheel. Isidor and Fofana then go down and VAR says it’s all OK.
76 min: Attacking change for Sunderland. Fofana replaces Meunier down the right.
75 min: Big chances for Arsenal! Tzolis wins the ball and Odegaard feeds Saka on the right of the area. The winger’s shot isn’t great and it’s easy for Roefs to bat away. Saka’s corner is headed back into the six-yard box by Havertz at the back post and Ballard somehow heads it away from under the crossbar. Guimaraes then sends a shot wide.
Updated
73 min: Isidor looks of disdain back at Ballard, who launched a ball long in his direction that bounces out for a throw. Calafiori takes too long over it and the throw is reversed.
70 min: Change for Sunderland – Isidor on, Angulo off. They’re going two up top, with Le Fee on the left.
68 min: Big chance for Arsenal! Saka finds Havertz in the area but the striker opts to cut the ball back instead of shooting. Ballard cuts it out with plenty of Arsenal players waiting. Xhaka is booked for a rash challenge on Guimaraes.
Updated
66 min: Arsenal win a free-kick near the centre circle when Saka goes down over an outstretched leg. Ballard is booked, possibly for dissent. Raya takes it short.
Updated
64 min: Rice fouls Brobbey just into the Arsenal half. Xhaka drifts it towards Ballard, Meunier takes a swing and there’s a VAR check for handball. Nope.
62 min: It’s non-stop this. Brobbey robs Tzolis on halfway and suddenly Arsenal are outnumbered. The striker delays a little too long and Tzolis wins it back, punching the air at doing so. Guimaraes is still being booed, maybe louder now.
60 min: Totally against the run of play, that. Just after Raya’s penalty save, Arsenal made hard work of defending another Danso long throw before going up the other end. Guimaraes, the £75m summer signing from Newcastle, took the ball on the edge of the box, set himself and curled it into the top corner to Roefs’ left.
Updated
Guimares silences the Sunderland boo boys with a wonderful curling effort into the top corner from the edge of the box!
Updated
GOAL! Sunderland 0-1 Arsenal (Guimaraes 58)
Oh wow! It’s a gut-punch for Sunderland!
Updated
Raya saves Le Fee's penalty! (56 min)
Le Fee goes to the bottom right and Raya reaches it, brilliantly tipping the ball on to the post!
Updated
There’s some pushing and shoving around the penalty spot, just as there was in the box during the throw-in. It all simmers down, leaving Le Fee to place the ball on the spot …
Penalty to Sunderland!
54 min: Angulo wins another throw-in. Danso tosses it into the box again and Konsa wrestles Ballard to the floor. John Brooks points to the spot!
52 min: Gabriel claims he’s been elbowed by Ballard at the long throw but, really, it’s not much and not intentional anyway. The Brazilian has to leave the field for one minute, as per the new rules, after the game is stopped. He spends it speaking to Arteta in the technical area.
50 min: Boos greet every Guimaraes touch of the ball. Sunderland keep Arsenal boxed in the corner as Sadiki wins another throw for Danso to launch into the area. Raya claims this one easily.
48 min: Almost an Arsenal calamity on the long throw as Raya and Gabriel go for the same ball! It drops to Ballard, who takes a swing at it and sees his shot blocked. Brobbey asks more questions of Konsa on a following break before Sadiki fires over.
Updated
46 min: The second half starts as Rice steals in before Brobbey can collect the ball on the edge of the Arsenal box and boots it clear. Danso will wind up a long throw for Sunderland …
Two Arsenal changes: Guimaraes and Timber on, Lewis-Skelly and the injured White off. Former Newcastle player Guimaraes gets a healthy booing as he enters the pitch.
“A return to form for Saka would be the icing on the cake,” says former Arsenal defender Martin Keown on TNT Sports at half-time. I’m not sure there is a cake to ice just yet. Tzolis has looked a more creative presence for Arsenal out wide, with Saka on the end of a couple of chances. You get the feeling that, in this form, Odegaard will come up with something eventually.
Arsenal have had a couple of decent chances but Sunderland have been more than competitive. Brian Brobbey has been pretty immense holding the ball up against Gabriel and Ezri Konsa.
Half-time: Sunderland 0-0 Arsenal
The half ends with Xhaka intervening with his heel as Havertz tries to head in Saka’s header across goal. The referee blows for half-time before Arsenal can take the corner.
Updated
45 min: There’s one added minute. Timber is stripped and ready because White has tweaked something. Arteta will wait for the break.
44 min: Havertz stretches to get his head to the Sunderland corner and it’s behind for another one. Raya gets a fist to the next one before Le Fee drags a low shot wide of the near post. Sunderland have had a good few minutes.
42 min: Angulo robs White of the ball in the Arsenal half and sets off towards the box. After a stepover and a ball roll, the winger throws himself to the floor as White steps across him. Meunier’s shot is blocked out for a corner.
Updated
40 min: The loudest cheer of the night comes as Arteta is booked for leaving his technical area too far and too often. He reacts with a tickbox gesture towards the retreating fourth official, who had clearly snitched.
Updated
38 min: Konsa and Raya appeal for fouls as Xhaka swings the ball in. One of them is given and it’s a free-kick to Arsenal in their own box.
36 min: Calafiori gives the referee an earful after Brobbey bumps him over at the resulting corner. VAR have a look for a moment or two but dismiss the claims. Sunderland then come forward as Mukiele drives into space. His low shot is blocked by Gabriel’s outstretched legs. Sunderland win a free-kick in a crossing position on the right …
34 min: Great save from Roefs! Odegaard clips a cross into the box from the left. Havertz brings it down with his chest, swivels and shoots with his back to goal. Roefs sticks a hand out to tip the ball over the bar.
32 min: Chance for Arsenal! Tzolis slides a pass through for Odegaard on the left of the penalty area. His cut-back finds Havertz but the German scoops the ball over the bar. He’s converted harder chances this season.
30 min: The danger passes for Sunderland. Odegaard’s inswinging free-kick is met by Konsa at the near post, the ball loops up in the air and then the assistant’s flag goes up. Still no goals from set pieces for Arsenal this season – something to work on.
28 min: Saka wins a free-kick down near the corner as a desperate Reinildo tugs on his shirt after a mix-up on the ball with Angulo. It’s a booking as well.
26 min: Arsenal counter quickly for the first time but Ballard does well when isolated against Havertz, just poking the ball out of play. Angulo catches Odegaard in the corner and the fourth official catches Arteta’s glare.
24 min: Gabriel has a sighter from about 25 yards, shooting low and hard just past the far post. Roefs was scrambling for a moment but Sunderland will probably take that.
22 min: Arsenal try to tease Sunderland out of shape but the hosts won’t play ball. Brobbey is the furthest man forward by far as Arsenal move the ball around on the edge of the Sunderland box. Lewis-Skelly pings a pass out of play.
20 min: Brobbey again holds off an Arsenal centre-back on halfway, Konsa this time, to bring Sunderland up the pitch. He and Havertz are certainly two very different centre-forwards – not sure who I’d rather have.
18 min: Rice drops between the two Arsenal centre-backs to pick up the ball. Xhaka leaves one on Odegaard on halfway that referee John Brooks will just take note of for now.
16 min: Chance for Sunderland! Brobbey holds off Gabriel brilliantly on halfway before Konsa upends Le Fée near the touchline. The big lads are forward and Xhaka whips a superb bouncing ball across goal. Ballard meets it at the back post but can’t guide it on target.
Updated
14 min: Chance for Arsenal! Saka times his run to perfection to meet Rice’s clipped pass into the box but can only flick the ball straight at Roefs as he approaches the six-yard box.
Updated
12 min: Sunderland force Arsenal back down their right as Meunier blocks a Calafiori clearance out for a goal-kick in the corner. Arsenal are yet to build any sort of momentum.
10 min: Xhaka gets on the ball for the first time in midfield and spreads it to Mukiele on the right. The defender fizzes a low ball into the area that White cuts out before it reaches Angulo. A Xhaka free-kick from deep is then flicked on into the hands of Raya.
8 min: Odegaard finds Calafiori in space on the edge of the box but the Italian’s right-footed shot is blocked before it gets very far. Brobbey wins presumably the first of many free-kicks to help his team up the pitch.
6 min: Sunderland get the crowd up with a couple of physical challenges on halfway that do little to intimidate this Arsenal side. Birthday boy Meunier (35 today) deals with Tzolis’s first foray down the left.
4 min: Jeers as the first Arsenal attack ends with Lewis-Skelly clipping the ball out for a goal-kick from the edge of the box. I preferred this Arsenal yellow from Mesut Özil’s debut in 2013 …
2 min: Arsenal are in lemon-y yellow, which is a bit bright against the Stadium of Light pitch under the lights. Brobbey barges Konsa over at the first opportunity.
Kick-off
After a warm embrace between former teammates and now captains Xhaka and Odegaard, Myles Lewis-Skelly gets us under way. Can Arsenal keep up their perfect winning record this season?
The match report from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is in …
Related: Tottenham still waiting for first league goal of season after draw against Everton
The players are in the tunnel at the Stadium of Light and kick-off is minutes’ away.
Justin emails in with the subject of ‘Stadium of Darkness’ …
So will Mikel Arteta sneak into the away dressing room tonight and take out all the light bulbs? Just to motivate his champions by having them stumble around in the dark as they change in the Stadium of Light? Expect to see some odd numbers on the shirts of some Arsenal players when they take the field.
You really cannot knock something slightly ridiculous when it seems to be working, which is annoying.
Sunderland parade new striker Juan Angulo, signed from Independiente del Valle last week, before kick-off at the Stadium of Light. That one had passed me by – and I’ve spent all summer writing down hundreds of transfers for this …
Related: Men’s transfer window summer 2026: all deals from Europe’s top five leagues
JD emails in …
Here is my early prediction for very competitive EPL season. Teams will struggle to reach 70 points. The team getting 75 will surely be champions. Whether Arsenal get to ninety plus or they just about scrap to 70-75 remains to be seen.
Well, I’d like to point out that Hull are on course for 76 points. Get the parade bus ready.
Full time: Tottenham 0-0 Everton. Some oddly cheery Spurs fans hold up a sign that says: ‘Please score a goal’. Not today. Other supporters are more glum.
This is how the Premier League table looks ahead of kick-off at Sunderland …
This hasn’t changed in the last two hours but why not check out the race for the golden boot as well …
Related: Premier League top scorers 2026-27: who is leading race for the golden boot?
Mikel Arteta revealed yesterday that he trains his Arsenal players to expect things to go wrong after their flight to Naples was delayed by five hours on Tuesday.
I love those challenges. I try to create them in pre-season, so when they happen, we already experience them and we already know. So, get to the stadium very late, change the routine as soon as the players have to do something else.
Just delay the meals, delay the transport, take a different route. We have done many things: make the dressing room hotter, more difficult, more challenging, less [massage] beds. Those kind of things. Because we are going to have to adapt to different contexts and we will try to anticipate it and create the best possible conditions. But when there is that element of stress or surprise on matchday, it’s important [to be prepared].
Related: ‘Delay the meals’: Mikel Arteta reveals latest maverick Arsenal methods
The Premier League is sponsoring the Together against Suicide campaign this weekend. Barney Ronay has penned a column that, well, you simply must read.
The fact is, it’s hard to be a man at any age. Or at least, it’s hard in a way that is distinct from other forms of hardness. And yes this statement might fail to draw an overwhelming wave of sympathy, but this is part of the problem. Pain comes for everyone. There’s no hierarchy of suffering. And male pain, male alienation is often carried around like a dead weight for exactly this reason.
Related: Football lends voice to message worth relaying: men should talk about their pain | Barney Ronay
“They are the best team in Europe,” said Sunderland manager Regis Le Bris yesterday, not of their midweek opponents Hull but of Arsenal. He is looking forward to today’s test ahead of the start of Sunderland’s Europa League campaign next week.
They are the best team in Europe at the minute and they have good momentum as well. We can’t get complacent otherwise it is finished very quickly. If you think that you are already a European team, it’s going to be a big problem.
They are flying right now and they have many threats on the pitch but we have a good team as well. It is a good challenge and we need these challenges to get better.
Starting lineups
Sunderland (4-2-3-1): Roefs; Mukiele, Ballard, Danso, Reinildo; Sadiki, Xhaka; Meunier, Le Fée, N Angulo; Brobbey
Subs: Ellborg, Hume, O’Nien, Alderete, Methalie, Talbi, Rigg, Fofana, Isidor
Regis Le Bris makes no changes from the 1-1 draw with Brentford. Former Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka captains Sunderland as usual. Former Spurs defender Kevin Danso is in the centre of defence while new signing Malick Fofana is on the bench.
Arsenal (4-3-3): Raya; White, Konsa, Gabriel, Calafiori; Ødegaard, Lewis-Skelly, Rice; Saka, Havertz, Tzolis
Subs: Arrizabalaga, Hincapié, Eze, Timber, Gyökeres, Madueke, Merino, Zubimendi, Guimarães
Mikel Arteta also keeps the same XI from the win against Chelsea. Former Newcastle midfielder Bruno Guimarães is spared the wrath of the Stadium of Light to start with – he’s on the bench. Max Dowman is absent after playing for Arsenal’s under-21s in their defeat to Chelsea this afternoon.
Updated
It is goalless between Tottenham and Everton a few minutes into the second half. Thierno Barry has just threatened an opener.
James Wallace has updates on that one here …
Related: Tottenham Hotspur v Everton: Premier League – live
Today’s Premier League scores and reports
Chelsea 2-2 Hull
Related: Hull stun Chelsea with Mohamed Belloumi double before João Pedro rescues a point
Liverpool 0-0 Fulham
Related: Frustrated Liverpool fail to take chances as Fulham claim deserved first point
Aston Villa 1-2 Nottingham Forest
Related: Igor Jesus and Liam Delap strike for Forest to deepen Aston Villa’s woes
Crystal Palace 2-3 Ipswich
Related: Flemming and Ipswich floor 10-man Crystal Palace with 90th-minute winner
Bournemouth 2-2 Brentford
Related: Schade double denies Bournemouth first league win as Brentford rescue draw
Preamble
Yes, there is more Premier League action today. Arsenal are looking to maintain their 100% start to the season as champions as they take on Sunderland at a ground where they were held to a 2-2 draw last season. Mikel Arteta’s side were in Italy in midweek, escaping from Naples with a 1-0 win, while their hosts on Wearside this evening also won 1-0 at home to Hull in the Carabao Cup.
The Stadium of Light is entering a new era over the next few days as Sunderland host European football for the first time in 53 years – AZ Alkmaar visit here next Wednesday in the Europa League. This evening, Arsenal come up against the familiar face of Sunderland captain Granit Xhaka, who was of course suspended the last time they won here in October 2016.
Stay tuned to hear how Arteta has been hardening his Arsenal players up for uncomfortable occasions like this, including making the dressing room hotter and delaying the team meals. I have been preparing myself in similar fashion, foregoing dinner to keep me sharp for minute-by-minute coverage. Feel free to get in touch via email as the game progresses. Kick-off is 8pm BST.
