With Sunderland visiting the Emirates at the weekend, striker Darren Bent remains optimistic that the Black Cats can bring something home from the capital despite their last win being against Arsenal at the Stadium of Light way back in November.

 

A poor run of form has seen Sunderland fall into the Premier League danger zone but good performances against the so-called ‘big four’ give Bent hope. 15 goals have made the England man joint top scorer and he sees no reason why it can’t continue in London..

"It's a massive game for us and probably a lot of people won't give us much of a chance going to play Arsenal at home." he said. "If we show resolve like we have done in the last few weeks we can hold them off and create some chances of our own…. we will stay positive, keep working hard in training and I'm sure it will come for us."

Despite a string of recent injuries and absences in midfield, Black Cats boss Steve Bruce has ruled out the possibility of recalling Jack Colback and Martyn Waghorn from their respective loan spells at Ipswich and Leicester. Steed Malbrangue and Andy Reid are on the injured list whilst David Meyler and Lee Cattermole are both facing bans but Bruce believes both the club and the players will benefit more from them remaining out on loan. "We've seen the benefit of Jordan Henderson going out on loan last season and I think that will benefit them too" said Bruce.