Arsenal are looking to keep their clean sheet streak going with a trip to the Stadium of Light on Saturday night as the Gunners sit on top of the Premier League
Arsenal will hope to keep their unbeaten streak going as they make the trip to the Stadium of Light to face Sunderland on Saturday night. The Gunners have been in red-hot form lately, going 13 games without defeat and keeping eight consecutive clean sheets.
Mikel Arteta’s side are sitting six points clear at the summit of the Premier League. Following a 3-0 victory against Slavia Prague in the Champions League, the north London outfit are also level on points in this table with fellow unbeaten sides, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan.
Arteta recently lauded his top-class side after the win over Slavia Prague. He said: “Emotionally, I think we handled it very well. It shows the consistency we have, we dominated the defensive part of the game against a team that is very difficult to play against. Tonight we made four changes from the weekend and they all performed really well. Overall, a really productive evening.”
Here, Mirror Football has all the latest coming out of the Emirates Stadium ahead of this weekend’s round of Premier League fixtures.
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Forgotten striker returns
Gabriel Jesus has made his long-awaited return to Arsenal training after 10 months out with injury. The forgotten striker has been missing from the first team due to an anterior cruciate ligament rupture against Manchester United in January.
At the time, Jesus had scored six goals in seven games for the Gunners and was left devastated by the injury. Now, the 28-year-old is back in training as his side prepare for the game against Sunderland. In footage of the training session posted to the club’s social media, one excited fan wrote on X: “Jesus is back for Christmas!”
During his solo training venture while returning from injury, Jesus played down any notion of a quick return to the starting line-up. Speaking in October, the 28-year-old said: “My knee is responding well. I’m looking forward to being around the team again soon, to come back to do what I love to do.
“It’s been too long. An injury like this, one that is so long, you split up the recovery periods into smaller timings. So now I’m at the stage where I need to hold myself back a little bit because I’m doing great work outside on the pitches, but it’s tricky because I need to not rush myself too hard over the line.
“When you can see the end, it’s important you don’t push too hard, keep my feet on the floor, and then as soon as the time comes, I will be ready.”
But now, the striker could be edging ever closer to a long-awaited return as he responded to fans’ well-wishes on social media. In a video, Jesus said: “Hello, Gooners. Yeah, it’s me here. Second day out with the boys. So happy and I cannot wait to see you at the Emirates. Take care.”
Arteta is also pleased with Jesus’ steps to return from injury, adding: “Now is about making the steps day by day, in a different surrounding. Now he has competitive players around him, see how he copes with that. He is full of energy. I love the reaction of his team-mates.”
Arsenal youngster axed from squad
Myles Lewis-Skelly has been left out of Thomas Tuchel’s latest England squad following a previous warning over a lack of game time. The high-flying youngster is among a few surprising omissions from those chosen, including Morgan Gibbs-White and Ollie Watkins.
Lewis-Skelly was part of the Three Lions’ international squad in October, but head coach Tuchel warned the 19-year-old that he would need to push harder to stay in the camp. Speaking last month, the German said: “To just be a good citizen in camp will not be enough over the course of a year.
“He was a very good player in camp, a very good team-mate in camp. But being a good team-mate in camp may not be good enough to stay the whole year with us.
“You have to perform at club level on a regular basis. In the last camp he got the credit, that I was convinced we have to take care of him and nominate him because we accelerated his career. It was our responsibility after we called him last season. So we stick to this.”
Lewis-Skelly misses out on the latest round of England fixtures and does not look to be in Arteta’s starting XI plans. So far this season, the defender has managed just 86 minutes of action, with Riccardo Calafiori preferred over him at left-back.
Discussing his star’s omission from the England squad, manager Arteta said: “Yes, for sure. We are here to support and to help each other and give a good perspective of the situation. So don’t look at the one moment of what is happening for you because maybe today it is happening for the right reason.”
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Sky Sports discounted Premier League and EFL package
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle ahead of the 2025/26 season, saving members £336 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League games next season, an increase of up to 100 more.
