Saturday 8th November 2025
Sunderland v Arsenal - Premier League
Stadium of Light ***Kick-Off:***17:30
Tickets & Match Coverage
Tickets: Tickets are sold out.
TV/Stream: Full live match coverage is available via Sky Sports.
Radio: Full live match commentary available via BBC Radio Newcastle (not online)
Don’t forget to follow the blow-by-blow account of the game on the Roker Report Twitter feed (@RokerReport) and check out the player ratings after the full-time whistle atwww.RokerReport.sbnation.com!
The build-up...
We’ve all seen these weekends over the years where it ends up being a weekend where Sky Sports have a double bill that pits the top four against each other - and most of us thought it was by design, but this one isn’t.
We take on league leaders Arsenal from a position of 4th in the table under the floodlights, in full gaze of the cameras in today’s 17:30 kick-off, while tomorrow, the two sides directly above us - Manchester City & Liverpool - meet at the Etihad. I’m sure Sky Sports would rather replace us with a Chelsea, Spurs or Manchester United, but we’re going to enjoy the moment.
How much we look forward to it depends on your view of our home form, especially over the last couple of games. Away from home, we look to have a solid game plan, coming out of the blocks early and being on the front foot in terms of the press while having a solid structure and being quick on the break. At home, it feels like we’re yet to find that perfect solution, despite winning three and drawing two of the five at the Stadium of Light so far.
Our win over West Ham came after they failed to convert early chances, and they crumbled like old biscuits once we got our noses in front, while the victory over Brentford could have gone either way, taking into account the narrow offside and a penalty miss.
The draw against Aston Villa was arguably our best performance, but we were required to play like we do away after the red card. We weren’t wholly convincing against Wolves, who were pretty dire, and the opening half an hour against Everton was perhaps our worst period of a game so far this season.
All of this points to the fact we’re getting results at home - 11 points from a possible 15 - but we’re probably yet to put in a complete performance on home soil, and it’s a case of imagining what happens when we do, and what if that is today against the league leaders?
Sunderland manager Regis Le Bris (right) gestures on the touchline during the Premier League match at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland. Picture date: Monday November 3, 2025. (Photo by Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)
Sunderland manager Regis Le Bris (right) gestures on the touchline during the Premier League match at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland. Picture date: Monday November 3, 2025. (Photo by Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)
PA Images via Getty Images
Is this the year they win the Premier League title after 21 years? Well, you probably wouldn’t bet against them looking at the league table, and how the rest of the chasing pack are either tripping over themselves trying to keep in touch, or in our case, just glad to be there for a period of time.
It’s maybe the sign of the times that if we look back to the 22nd September - just less than seven weeks ago - it was the day after Arsenal had drawn against Manchester City at the Emirates, and the hive mind that is social media decided there and then that Arteta was once again coming up short in his search for the title. Five successive wins later and he is the mastermind behind their latest, and perhaps greatest to date, title challenge.
They are current favourites with the bookies for not only the Premier League title, but also the Champions League and it’s the clinical methodology that is catching the eye when this side is compared to one from previous years. The last goal they conceded was at St James’ Park on the 28th September, and they are yet to concede a goal in the Champions League - incidentally, only Arsenal have conceded fewer goals than ourselves in the top flight.
We will have done very well to have maintained our unbeaten home record at the final whistle of today’s game, but if we want a straw or two to clutch, we can firstly look at the fact that the Gunners travelled to Prague and back in midweek, but we can also look at their list of players unavailable through injury. Noni Madueke, Gabriel, Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus, Kai Havertz, Martin Odegaard and Viktor Gyokeres are all missing, so if we’re to stand a chance, I’m not sure there will be a better time to take them on.
BURNLEY, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 01: Mikel Arteta, Manager of Arsenal, gestures during the Premier League match between Burnley and Arsenal at Turf Moor on November 01, 2025 in Burnley, England. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)
BURNLEY, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 01: Mikel Arteta, Manager of Arsenal, gestures during the Premier League match between Burnley and Arsenal at Turf Moor on November 01, 2025 in Burnley, England. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)
Getty Images
The betting...
The bookies have the Lads at 7/1 to win the game, while Arsenal are priced at 4/11, and the draw is 15/4.
Head to head... at Sunderland…
(All competitions)
Sunderland wins: 33
Draws: 23
Arsenal wins: 20
Sunderland goals: 131
Arsenal goals: 95
Last time we met... at the Stadium of Light
Saturday 29th October 2016
Premier League
Sunderland 1-4 Arsenal
[Defoe (pen) 65’ - Sanchez 19, 78’, Giroud 71’, 76’]
Sunderland: Pickford, Jones, O’Shea (Djilobodji), Kone, Van Aanholt, Rodwell, Ndong, Khazri, Watmore (Gooch), Pienaar (Januzaj), Defoe Substitutes not used: Mika, Love, Manquillo, Anichebe
Arsenal: Cech, Bellerin, Gibbs, Coquelin (Maitland-Niles), Mustafi, Koscielny, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Ramsey), Elneny, Sanchez, Ozil, Iwobi (Giroud) Substitutes not used: Ospina, Jenkinson, Holding, Gabriel
***Attendance:***44,322
Arsenal’s French striker Olivier Giroud heads the ball to score their third goal during the English Premier League football match between Sunderland and Arsenal at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland, northeast England on October 29, 2016. / AFP / Lindsey PARNABY / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or ‘live’ services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo credit should read LINDSEY PARNABY/AFP via Getty Images)
Arsenal’s French striker Olivier Giroud heads the ball to score their third goal during the English Premier League football match between Sunderland and Arsenal at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland, northeast England on October 29, 2016. / AFP / Lindsey PARNABY / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or ‘live’ services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo credit should read LINDSEY PARNABY/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
Played for both...
Steve Bould
There are a couple things I took from watching Steve Bould in a Sunderland strip all those years ago. Firstly, he was approaching his 37th birthday when he signed for us, and if he was that good at that stage of his career, then just how good must it have been to have watched him as an Arsenal fan when he was in his prime?
Secondly, he finished his career with only two England caps, and although we had a lot of good central defenders from the mid-1980s and through the 1990s, it’s still a mystery to me how he didn’t get more.
Bould started out at his hometown club Stoke City, and began life in the heart of their defence with a certain Denis Smith, who was in the later stages of his career as Bould came through. He would spend around eight years with the Potters from making his debut, before joining George Graham’s Arsenal, where he would become part of a famous defensive unit.
Eleven years at the top with Arsenal included winning league titles, lifting FA Cups, League Cups, and a Cup Winners Cup, before his time was done, and Peter Reid persuaded him to see out his days with Sunderland. He was an instrumental figure in Reid’s side finishing 7th in the Stadium of Light’s first year in the Premier League, but injuries would catch up with him, and he retired in 2000.
He coached at Arsenal for many years before becoming assistant to Wenger, and he is now the defensive coach at QPR.
29 Aug 1999: Steve Bould of Sunderland clears the ball under pressure from a Coventry player during the Sunderland v Coventry City FA Carling Premiership match at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland. Mandatory Credit: Craig Prentis /Allsport
29 Aug 1999: Steve Bould of Sunderland clears the ball under pressure from a Coventry player during the Sunderland v Coventry City FA Carling Premiership match at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland. Mandatory Credit: Craig Prentis /Allsport
Getty Images
Prediction…
Sunderland 0-1 Arsenal
It got me nowhere being optimistic against Everton. But today we potentially play the most clinical side in Europe and it might be a case of setting up a game plan as if we’re playing away, which might suit us a bit more. But I’m going to go with the traditional 1-0 to the Arsenal.