Ricky Sbragia hopes that reaching the 30-point mark will give his Sunderland side a psychological boost.

The Black Cats reached the landmark by beating Stoke at the Stadium of Light last weekend.

And with 13 games left, Sbragia is hoping that Sunderland go well beyond the 40-point total he believes will be enough to stay in the Premier League this season.

"It was a good feeling to hit 30 points and it's imperative that we keep getting results and have a good finish to the season.

"I've spoken to people who think the points total needed to stay up might be dropping but I would have thought 40 will see you safe.

"There's a better chance now than five or six weeks ago. We've got to keep plugging away and reach it as quickly as possible."

Sunderland's next two games see them travel to Arsenal and Liverpool. After that, they have successive home games against Tottenham and Wigan.

"We have got Arsenal and Liverpool away but, with us having a bit of a cushion, we can go there with the thought of getting something," said Sbragia.

"Then we've got to continue winning our home games. The games against Spurs and Wigan will be huge, we need to continue to take points from the teams around us. We have a run of hard games coming up."

Arsenal vs Sunderland

will be on Astro Channel 812 ESPN

Live at 10.55PM



This post has been edited by booooster: Feb 18 2009, 03:02 PM

---

Added on February 18, 2009, 3:01 pmTal Ben-Haim will be ready if he is asked to make his Sunderland debut at Arsenal on Saturday.

Ben-Haim joined the Black Cats on loan from Manchester City two weeks ago in a deal that will see him stay at the Stadium of Light until the end of the season.

The Israel international, who last played in the Barclays Premier League on December 6, had to sit on the bench in Sunderland's last game, against Stoke.

But with Phil Bardsley suspended for the trip to the Emirates Stadium, boss Ricky Sbragia has hinted that Ben-Haim will play at right-back.

"I'm happy to be here and I look forward to playing some football," he told SAFC TV.

"I've settled in quickly and I think Sunderland have some good players. The team is going in the right direction and hopefully we can continue that at Arsenal.

"Of course Arsenal is a difficult game but you never know in football, we will give it our best shot."

Ben-Haim boosted his fitness by playing 90 minutes for Israel against Hungary in a friendly last week. "The game went well and I feel in good shape," he said. "I hope for a good week's training now."

Hair today, gone tomorrow: The pictures show Sunderland defender Tal Ben-Haim sporting a new haircut.

Can't wait til 2moro

go beat Arsenal !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hahaha i really impress with you ler...

do everything on your own and post everything on your own....

erm hope sunderland can do something against arsenal tomorrow....

good luck ya...

nah..this thread is informative enough...who knows...one day sunderland might be like aston villa now

thanks for the support u guys we'll make sure Arsenal stumbles again



An in-depth preview of Sunderland's game at the Emirates Stadium.

General news:
• Sunderland are unbeaten in three games after back-to-back home wins over Stoke and Fulham sandwiched their 1-1 draw at Newcastle.
• The Black Cats are currently 11th in the Barclays Premier League - seven clear of the relegation zone and four away from eighth-placed Wigan.
• Away from home, Sunderland have won three, drawn four and lost five, scoring 12 goals and conceding 18.
• League form guide: L D L W D W
• Phil Bardsley is suspended on Saturday after accumulating five yellow cards and will be available again for the trip to Liverpool on March 3.
• Dean Whitehead remains on four yellow cards, meanwhile, and will get a one-game ban if he is booked tomorrow - however, if he avoids a yellow at the Emirates, the midfielder will escape any punishment unless he reaches 10 cautions before April.
• Djibril Cisse will make his 300th career appearance (in all competitions) when he next plays. The Frenchman played 130 games for Auxerre (70 goals), 78 games for Liverpool (24 goals), 21 games during a loan spell with Marseille (8 goals), a further 43 games for Marseille last season (16 goals) and has so far played 27 games for Sunderland, scoring 10 goals.
• Kenwyne Jones, meanwhile, will make his 50th league appearance for Sunderland if he plays at the Emirates on Saturday.

Injury latest:
• Teemu Tainio is hoping to be fit for the weekend after missing the last three games with a knee injury.
• Paul McShane is back in full training after recovering from a hamstring injury and is expected to travel to Arsenal.
• Nyron Nosworthy is back in light training and should be available for the Liverpool fixture.
• Darren Ward played his first game this season in the reserves' 3-1 win at home to Middlesbrough on Wednesday night, while Jean-Yves M'voto continues rehabilitation from an ankle operation.
• David Connolly (groin operation) and Russell Anderson (knee) are in long-term rehab.

The opposition:
• Eduardo is out with a thigh injury after he played his first club game since recovering from a horrific broken leg a year ago. The 25-year-old, who played 30 minutes for his country in a friendly against Romania last week, scored twice in Arsenal's 4-0 win over Cardiff on Monday night, an FA Cup fourth round replay, at the Emirates Stadium. It was exactly a year ago on Monday (February 23) since Eduardo suffered the leg break against Birmingham.
• Meanwhile, striker Emmanuel Adebayor is a major doubt with a hamstring problem and French midfielder Abou Diaby is struggling with a thigh strain.
• The Gunners are hoping Mikael Silvestre (thigh) has a chance for Saturday, but Cesc Fabregas (medial knee ligament damage), Theo Walcott (shoulder) and Tomas Rosicky (hamstring) are all out.
• Arsenal are currently fifth in the Barclays Premier League, five points behind fourth-placed Chelsea and 12 points from leaders Manchester United.
• The Gunners have lost their formidable home record this season, losing two games at the Emirates (against Hull and Aston Villa). They have still won seven of their 12 home games this season, drawing three, scoring 18 goals and conceding 11.
• They are fourth in the league form guide and are unbeaten in 11 league games. Since their 3-0 defeat at Manchester City in November, they have won five games and drawn six, although they have drawn their last three games.
• League form guide: W W W D D D
• Arsene Wenger strengthened his firepower during the January transfer window with the high-profile signing of Russian striker Andrei Arshavin, in a £15m deal from Zenit St Petersburg - he could make his debut on Saturday.
• Wenger signed four players last summer, and allowed nine players to leave the club.
• Ins: Mikael Silvestre (Man Utd, undisclosed), Aaron Ramsey (Cardiff, £5m), Samir Nasri (Marseille, undisclosed), Amaury Bischoff (Werder Bremen, undisclosed).
• Outs: Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos, £1m), Alexander Hleb (Barcelona, £11.8m), Jens Lehmann (Stuttgart, free), Mathieu Flamini (AC Milan, free), Kerrea Gilbert (Leicester, loan), Nacer Barazite (Derby, loan), Armand Traore (Portsmouth, loan), Philippe Senderos (AC Milan, loan), Justin Hoyte (Middlesbrough, £3m).
• Arsenal finished third in the Premier League last season. At home, they won 14 games, and drew five, scoring 37 goals and conceding 11.

Match officials:
• The referee on Saturday is Alan Wiley from Staffordshire. Mr Wiley has so far issued 80 yellow cards and three reds in 28 games this season.
• His assistants are Stephen Child and Stephen Rubery, and the fourth official is Dean Whitestone.

Fancy a flutter?
• Arsenal are 4/9 favourites on Saturday, while Boylesports have priced Sunderland 13/2 and the draw at 16/5.
• First scorer (S'land): Jones 8/1, Cisse 8/1, Murphy 12/1, Healy 12/1, Richardson 16/1, Malbranque 18/1, Reid 18/1, Edwards 22/1.
• First scorer (Arsenal): Van Persie 10/3, Bendtner 4/1, Da Silva 4/1, Arshavin 5/1, Vela 6/1, Nasri 7/1, Ramsey 11/1, Denilson 12/1, Diaby 12/1.

How far?
• It's 276 miles from the Stadium of Light to the Emirates Stadium.

Sunderland-Arsenal, head-to-head:
• Sunderland and Arsenal drew 1-1 at the Stadium of Light earlier this season, with Grant Leadbitter scoring for the home side before Cesc Fabregas netted a late equaliser.
• Arsenal beat Sunderland 3-2 in the last meeting at the Emirates Stadium - Robin van Persie and Philippe Senderos put the Gunners into an early lead before Ross Wallace pulled one goal back after 25 minutes, and Kenwyne Jones pulled the visitors level just after half-time. Van Persie scored an 80th-minute winner.
• Sunderland's last league win at Highbury was on November 5, 1983, when Colin West and Ian Atkins scored in a 2-1 win.
• Their last cup win at Arsenal was in the Carling Cup (round three) on November 6, 2002, with two goals by Marcus Stewart and one from Kevin Kyle. Robert Pires and Francis Jeffers scored for the Gunners.
• Sunderland have won just 15 of the previous 61 league meetings between the two in London, while Arsenal have won 33 and there have been 13 draws.
SAFC wins Draws Arsenal wins
League 43 34 46
FA Cup 3 1 3
League Cup 1 0 2
Other 1 0 0
Total 48 35 51


The last 10 meetings:
• Sunderland 1, Arsenal 1 (Premier League) 4.10.08
• Sunderland 0, Arsenal 1 (Premier League) 11.5.08
• Arsenal 3, Sunderland 2 (Premier League) 7.10.07
• Sunderland 0, Arsenal 3 (Premier League) 1.5.06
• Arsenal 3, Sunderland 1 (Premier League) 5.11.05
• Sunderland 0, Arsenal 3 (League Cup R3) 25.10.05
• Sunderland 0, Arsenal 4 (Premier League) 11.5.03
• Arsenal 2, Sunderland 3 (League Cup R3) 6.11.02
• Arsenal 3, Sunderland 1 (Premier League) 6.10.02
• Arsenal 3, Sunderland 0 (Premier League) 30.3.02

This post has been edited by booooster: Feb 21 2009, 01:29 AM

A genuine supporter.

Kick off in less than 15 mins away

Starting Line ups

Arsenal
Almunia
Clichy
Gallas
Sagna
Toure
Denilson
Song
Nasri
Bendtner
Van Persie
Arshavin

Sunderland
Fulop
Ben Haim
Collins
Ferdinand
McCartney
Reid
Richardson
Whitehead
Malbranque
Tainio
Jones

Score update 0-0 at half time

Nearly wanna sleep so boring 0-0

really good i love ur striker...fast and hardworking...

FULL TIME 0-0

HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

but you got chances to lead..

Manager Ricky Sbragia's reaction to Sunderland's 0-0 draw at Arsenal:

"We had a lot of luck on our side but you need that when you play against the top clubs, we went with a game-plan and it worked.

"Arsenal missed some chances, maybe they weren't clinical enough, and when they hit the target Marton [Fulop] was excellent, he made four or five decent saves.

"Arsenal got in some good positions but their finishing was a bit wild. On another day, Arsenal might have won by four.

"We knew we would be under pressure and that's why we played with that system, but we had some decent counter-attacks in the first half and late in the game we got in some good positions.

"We're delighted to come here and get a point.

"There were some outstanding performances. Kieran has been brilliant all season and he was again today.

"We had luck on our side and I hope we do again when we go to Liverpool a week on Tuesday.

"I think we have enough to stay in the Premier League, we have moved on and taken a step forward in recent weeks. We are difficult to beat now.

"We have to win our home games and try to get something away, so this was a bonus."

Sunderland extended their unbeaten run in the league to four games with a bold performance at the Emirates Stadium.

The result was a mark of the club's progress under Ricky Sbragia as the Black Cats moved further away from the bottom three.

Sunderland were better in the first half, causing the Gunners problems with some decent counter-attacks.

But it was different after the break when the men from Wearside had to battle away to keep out Arsene Wenger's stuttering side.

Marton Fulop, the goalkeeper, was outstanding, not putting a foot wrong as Arsenal poured forward in the second half.

Djibril Cisse suffered an ankle injury in the build-up to the game and it meant Sunderland lined up in a 4-5-1 formation. The game-plan worked, frustrating Arsenal who have drawn their last three Premier League games 0-0.

Teemu Tainio, Dean Whitehead and Kieran Richardson worked tirelessly in the middle of the park as Sunderland secured their third clean sheet in four Premier League games.

Andrey Arshavin made an impressive debut for the Gunners. The Russian could have scored in the first half and he is sure to be an asset for them during the run-in.

Whitehead and Anton Ferdinand went close at the other end in the opening period as Sunderland gave as good as they got.

It was mostly Arsenal after the break and Carlos Vela, William Gallas and Robin Van Persie all missed chances as Arsenal's hopes of a Champions League spot were dealt another blow.

But Sunderland hung on to record an unlikely draw and the players and fans celebrated at the end as if it were a victory.

The Wearsiders headed to Spain after the game for a few days' warm-weather training and they are sure to have done so in good spirits.

Sunderland have closed ranks against their former manager Roy Keane as players and board members delivered their retorts to the Irishman's scathing attack over the weekend.

As the chairman, Niall Quinn, defended the American investor Ellis Short's presence on the board after Keane claimed it was his interference which had been one of the main reasons behind his departure, one of his own signings, the left-back George McCartney, claimed Keane had lost the dressing room long before he walked away from his first manager's job.

With Keane's abrasive man-management upsetting rather than inspiring, McCartney claimed his replacement, Ricky Sbragia, has rebuilt shattered ­confidence and restored the self-belief Keane had destroyed.

"We had a shaky period under Roy Keane when we didn't win for about seven matches which dragged us towards relegation," said McCartney, a £5m purchase from West Ham United in the summer. "But the last four or five games under Rick we've started playing better football and got more confident with each match we've played, and that showed against Arsenal. I think under Roy Keane the lads were a bit disheartened and he went about things differently from the way Ricky does."

In his first comments since the ­decision to quit in November Keane blamed everyone but himself for the team's troubles. He also joked about the former Sunderland midfielder Clive Clarke's heart attack, which forced his former Republic of ­Ireland team-mate to retire from football two years ago.

Despite spending more than £40m on new signings in the summer, Sunderland had slipped into the relegation zone when Keane quit following a 4-1 home defeat by Bolton Wanderers, claiming he had taken the club as far as he could.

That money was provided by Short and Quinn, who revealed that the Drumaville consortium which initially funded Keane's transfer activity has been crippled by the credit crunch in the summer, displayed solidarity with the secretive American.

"Without Ellis coming on board we would not have any of these players," Quinn said. "It's great that they are here, but the fact of the matter is that Ellis was a vital part of the club's growth at a critical juncture and naturally myself and the board are hopeful that the support will continue. I can say unequivocally, without Ellis Short, we would not be in the position we are today."

Keane also appeared to take a thinly veiled swipe at Sbragia, who was part of his coaching staff at the Stadium of Light, claiming he was more interested in being friends with the players than controlling them. But Sbragia, who has probably heard plenty of Keane's outbursts in their time together at Manchester United, as well as at Sunderland, was diplomatic in his response.

"He has done fantastic for Sunderland," Sbragia said. "They were bottom of the Championship and he has taken them up and then elected to leave the club. I worked for him for two years and he was good. He was a good manager and he knew what he wanted. It was his decision to say, 'That's it, I've had enough. I want a break, I need to spend time with my family'."

where is gordon? never seen him playing recently

The club-record £9 million signing is struggling to win back his place in the Stadium of Light side that has gone to Hungarian international Marton Fulop after overcoming ankle injury.

"I know I have to be patient as I look to get back into the side," the former Hearts captain said. "The problem is - I'm not a patient person. I'll just continue to work hard and try to force myself in the team.

"It was good to be back on the bench and involved with the team after being injured for so long, but that soon wears off, you want to play. I've played one game in the FA Cup at Blackburn, done well, and it's just a case of waiting for another chance."

Gordon has had to make do with a place among manager Ricky Sbragia's substitutes in the Premier League and that seems certain to be the case again on Saturday when Sunderland face Arsenal at the Emirates.

"It would be nice if both Marton and I could play against Arsenal," he added. "Seriously, I don't think a trip to the Emirates holds as much fear as it used to. Hopefully we can produce a good, solid performance. We should not fear going there.

"If we can put in a solid defensive display and nick a goal, you never know. We have the attacking players to cause Arsenal problems and Anton Ferdinand has marshaled the defence superbly in recent weeks."

His lack of front-line action could hamper Gordon's chances of playing for Scotland when the World Cup qualifying campaign resumes next month against Holland and Iceland.

He joined in a get-together organised by Scotland manager George Burley as plans were put in place for the crunch games.

"It was good to get away with Scotland last week," Gordon added. "We were at St Andrews, the home of golf, but unfortunately golf course was shut. Typical.

"I've been to St Andrews two or three times with Scotland although it's not the place we normally stay at. It's more of a place we go when we don't have a game, to do a bit of training.

"We did that and some planning for our next qualifier - a tough one in Holland next month. Iceland at home follows and it's a crucial double-header as we look to qualify for the World Cup."

Gordon is also braced for mind-games with Sunderland's Dutch goalkeeper coach, the former Manchester United keeper Raimond van der Gouw.

"I'm sure there will be a bit of banter with Raimond ahead of the Holland Game," Gordon said.

"He fancies his home country rather strongly but hopefully we'll give a good account of ourselves. It would be nice to get something from the game - it would also wipe the smile off Raimond's face."

Meanwhile, Gordon and the rest of his Sunderland colleagues can look forward to a training camp in Seville next week.

"It went down well in the dressing room last week when it emerged that we were heading to Spain for some warm-weather training," Gordon added.

"We can work in a comfortable temperature and relax a bit afterwards. It's good for the lads to get together, do some decent work and also have a laugh, it always helps team spirit.

"We go after the Arsenal game and the aim is to come back ready for the final dozen games."

This post has been edited by booooster: Feb 23 2009, 10:42 PM

Niall Quinn has said he is "thrilled" with the way Sunderland's season is panning out under Ricky Sbragia.

The Black Cats have won 16 points from 11 Premier League games since Sbragia took over as manager from Roy Keane in December, a return that has moved them to 11th in the table.

Sbragia, 52, has quietly remodelled Sunderland in the three months since moving into the manager's office and it has not gone unnoticed in the board room.

Sunderland's spirits were lifted further last Saturday when they matched Arsenal to earn a point from the Emirates Stadium, and they are now eight points above the relegation zone with 12 games left.

"Everyone is thrilled with the way it's working out," said Quinn, speaking in a Q&A on SAFC TV.

"Ricky has put his own stamp on it, he's working hard and he has a great approach to the job. Results have been good and the team is playing better.

"Ricky has signed a kind of half-way house contract, 18 months, to give him a feel of it, for both sides to be happy with where we are going. But I would envisage him being here a lot longer."

This post has been edited by booooster: Feb 27 2009, 03:47 PM