Arsenal moved nine points clear at the top of the Premier League table with a routine win over Sunderland. The Gunners put the pressure on Manchester City, who play Liverpool on Sunday, by turning the screw with a professional performance at the Emirates Stadium.

Martin Zubimendi fired Arsenal ahead with a crisp, swerving strike from the edge of the penalty area that found the net via the inside of the post. Declan Rice and Kai Havertz both also went close from similar range as Sunderland limited the hosts to long-range efforts.

Mikel Arteta turned to his bench in the 60th minute and Arsenal's much-heralded strength in depth came up trumps once again. Six minutes after entering the pitch, the Gunners pounced on a turn over in possession and fed Viktor Gyokeres, who powered a finish past Robin Roefs.

Sunderland were kept at arm's length without too much difficulty as Arsenal managed the game in relative comfort to register a 20th clean sheet of the season in all competitions. Gabriel Martinelli then teed up Gyokeres on the counter-attack in injury time to add gloss to the scoreline. Here are the talking points from the match.

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1. Zubimendi proves Arteta right

In his pre-match press conference, Arteta was asked about the fact that this Premier League season has the highest proportion of goals from outside the box in 12 years, and whether that was down to teams defending deep.

"Well, yes. The more density there is inside the box and the more contact there is, the more difficult it is to score goals, especially in open play so you have to find other ways," the Arsenal boss said. "I'm not surprised that number is increasing. The quality of the players is increasing as well. It happened in basketball especially, going from twos to threes which started going incredibly high. It's not that easy to score here because of the distance and the crowd (of players) that is around the goal but it is another weapon to have."

Right on cue, Zubimendi powered a perfectly-hit shot into the bottom corner to open the scoring. Rice had gone close minutes beforehand and Havertz also bent a curler just wide before the break. Arsenal had nine shots in the first half, worth just 0.31 xG, yet they had the lead.

It's not often the case, but Arsenal's goalkeeper looked nervous against Sunderland. He needed one of his team-mates to bail him out early on with a clearance after he flew off his line and there was another moment of juggling after claiming a cross from a set piece.

Early in the first half, Gabriel Magalhaes turned to berate his keeper after he refused to come and pick up a rebound which he had pushed out. It got worse when Raya came out horribly sliced an attempted clearance, needing William Saliba to mop up behind him.

3. Madueke fails audition

This was a big opportunity for Noni Madueke, who started on the right wing with Bukayo Saka unavailable. He was gifted his first Premier League goal for the Gunners after the overturning of an own goal from the 4-0 win over Leeds - in which he had impressed - but couldn't back it up.

Arteta opted to start Madueke and Gabriel Jesus ahead of Gabriel Martinelli and Viktor Gyokeres but neither created anything against Sunderland's stubborn defence. Madueke was the most disappointing, failing to complete a dribble or find a key pass, while his only effort on goal was blocked. Martinelli and Gyokeres were summoned before the hour-mark by Arteta as Arsenal chased a second goal.

4. Gyokeres finds his role

Gyokeres arrived at Arsenal with huge expectations attached to him, having plundered a ludicrous number of goals in Portugal. He did not live up to them in the early stages of the season, but now he has genuine competition for the centre-forward position, in the form of Jesus (and perhaps Havertz), he might just settle into a groove.

His goals here made it strikes in back-to-back Premier League matches for the first time this season and 13 in 32 appearances in total. One of the points made in mitigation for Gyokeres is that Arsenal don't play into his strengths and that Jesus is better suited to playing against deep-set defences. This game maybe showed the road forward, with rotation the key.

5. Pressure on Man City

Pep Guardiola's side visit Anfield on Sunday afternoon in desperate need of a win. They have been anything but convincing of late and the idle pub chat theory, which states 'City will go on a run' is beginning to look out of date.

Arsenal have settled well after the 3-2 defeat by Manchester United, dispatching Leeds and Sunderland in professional fashion without conceding. And they are looking every bit the favourites to lift a first Premier League trophy in 22 years.

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