Photo via Sky Sports

Guimaraes haunts Sunderland as Arsenal continue winning start

Arsenal maintained their flawless run with a 2-0 triumph away to Sunderland, climbing to the summit of the Premier League and establishing a three-point cushion over Manchester City. The pivotal moment arrived in the second half after Dan Ballard was pulled back by Ezri Konsa, prompting a refereeing call that infuriated Mikel Arteta.

However, David Raya preserved parity by pushing Enzo Le Fee's subsequent spot kick onto the woodwork. Merely 121 seconds later, former Newcastle midfielder Bruno Guimaraes silenced relentless jeers from the Stadium of Light crowd by rifling a spectacular shot off the bottom of the bar from distance to notch his debut goal for the Gunners.

Sunderland pushed for an equaliser, forcing Raya into another sharp intervention to deny Nordi Mukiele, but their hopes were completely extinguished in added time. Reinildo Mandava received a second booking for bringing down Bukayo Saka, who then converted the resulting spot kick himself.

Earlier chances had seen Saka miscue a Declan Rice feed, Ballard head off target from a Granit Xhaka set-piece, and Kai Havertz denied twice following setups from Martin Odegaard and Sunderland goalkeeper Roefs. The outcome marks a fourth straight league triumph and a sixth successive win across all tournaments for the league leaders, while the hosts languish on four points.

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