With Sunderland pushing forward looking for an equaliser they left gaps at the back which we used to full effect. Lupoli went through and was brought down resulting in a penalty which was converted with precision by Van Persie. From that point on we were never in trouble, and this find second half display was capped off with a late third from Robin.
Manual Almunia (6) Had very little to do as Sunderland rarely threatened.
Pascal Cygan (7) Good passing and movement. The funniest sight of the night had to be him charging down the left wing with an overlapping run.
Sol Campbell (7) A good run out for him to gain an additional bit of fitness before Saturday.
Philippe Senderos (7) A solid display; didn't put a foot wrong all night.
Emmanuel Eboue (7) A fine display both defensively and going forward.
Sebastian Larsson (6) He found it hard tog et involved in the first half, but found his feet in the second, showing some tidy passing.
Fabrice Muamba (7) Dominated the midfield despite the fact that he was playing against more experienced midfielders.
Alexander Song (6) Hard in the tackle, but his passing was poor for the most part.
Quincy (7) Saw plenty of the ball but did very little with it. At times he held the ball for too long which meant that when the ball was played the runners were offside or the attack lost momentum as he had to track back. The raw talent is there though.
Arturo Lupoli (7) Chased down lost causes and won us the penalty that killed off the game.
Robin Van Persie (8) This game showed just how far he has come with us. Great movement, creative play and passing and two goals as well.
Subs:
Patrick Cregg (N/A) Only played the last few minutes.
Anthony Stokes (N/A) Only played the last few minutes.
Niklas Bendtner (N/A) Only played the last few minutes.