Sunderland slipped into the relegation zone after a 2-0 defeat against Arsenal. Even though this was comparatively much better than the 8-0 thrashing that they suffered last week against Southampton, it was yet another match without any points for the club that only narrowly avoided relegation last season. Many expected Sunderland to be in the Championship this campaign, but a remarkable improvement in form towards the last few matches of the season saw them climb out at the expense of Fulham. This season, though, there has been yet another the relegation fight at the Stadium of Light.
Defender Wes Brown committed a mistake in the first half to allow Alexis Sanchez to score the opening goal. A poor back pass in the final few minutes of the match meant that goalkeeper Vito Mannone was unable to prevent Sanchez from scoring another goal and securing three points for the team from London. Poyet was once again a disappointing manager during the postmatch press conference. He highlighted the much better performance from his players, but he was unable to look away from the fact that his team are now in the relegation zone after nine matches in the season.
Poyet, though, has given his backing to the players who have committed individual mistakes in the last few weeks. “It’s not easy to comment because if you take the two mistakes away, we defended well, we competed well as a group, we tried harder. We really tried our best against a team that will always control the ball. Saying that, I wasn’t expecting the two mistakes for the two goals that we conceded. There is a little bit of disappointment in those terms because after everything that happened last weekend, you expect to not concede the goals that we conceded today,” said Poyet.
