Mid-way through the second half the ground began emptying. For many the pain of watching Sunderland register a record equalling worst start to a Premier Leagueseason was simply too painful too witness but they missed out on some exquisite football from Arsenal.
If Arsène Wenger’s side continue playing as beguilingly as this there can be few complaints should they be crowned Champions next spring. By then Sunderland - who have only two points from 10 games - will probably be relegated but it should be stressed that David Moyes’s side were not all that bad on a day when they worked extremely hard.
It was just that every time the Wearsiders upped the tempo, Arsenal elevated it stratospherically higher as their hosts struggled to fathom the subtle sophistication of Alexis Sánchez’s attacking performance during a chastening 90 minutes during which both he and the similarly inspired substitute Olivier Giroud scored twice.
Moyes is adamant that, albeit incrementally, Sunderland are improving. They certainly started well enough with Wahbi Khazri - a disappointment so far this season but integral to last spring’s aversion of relegation - offering cause for real optimism down the right.
There was the cute dummy the Tunisia winger sold Mohamed Elneny, a couple of clever, half chance creating balls, to the overlapping Billy Jones and Jermain Defoe and a free kick curved fractionally wide of a post.
Encouragingly for Moyes, Khazri was not the only one upping his game and Sunderland’s manager looked on approvingly as Jack Rodwell clattered into Francis Coquelin. By then though Arsenal were already re-grouping after realising they would not necessarily be able to enjoy a stroll in the Wearside sunshine.
Worryingly for Moyes, Wenger’s players evidently resolved to rise to the challenge and their resultant improvement swiftly began rendering Sunderland’s bright beginning a cruel chimera. By half-time they had not only surrendered the majority of possession but failed to direct a single shot on target or even win a corner.
The first note of home alarm was sounded when Alexis Sánchez’s beautifully angled cross-field pass dropped in front of Mesut Özil. When the playmaker’s first touch proved true, local hearts were in mouths but Özil’s second - a shot placed conveniently close to Jordan Pickford - suggested he was mortal after all.
It should have served as a warning to Lamine Koné and his co defenders but Koné was found wanting when at the end of a bewitching Arsenal attack adorned by 22 passes, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain sashayed past the back-peddling, thoroughly bewildered, Duncan Watmore down the right and crossed perfectly for Sánchez to direct a copybook header beyond Pickford from around eight yards. Momentarily frozen, Koné stood off the striker and paid the price.
Although Patrick van Aanholt curled a free-kick wide and Jermain Defoe had a volleyed ‘equaliser’ rightly disallowed for an offside against Khazri, Wenger’s players had assumed an ominous degree of control.
They could have gone further ahead had Alex Iwobi not bent his shot marginally wide after a one two with Kieran Gibbs and Sánchez not lifted a free kick over the bar from a dangerous position but bookings for Khazri, Didier Ndong and Steven Pienaar offered compelling evidence of Sunderland’s increasing struggles to contain their visitors.
Moyes’s mission was further complicated by Sánchez’s habit of dropping extremely deep, Wenger’s supposed lone striker often taking up Özil’s supposed ‘no 10’ role. Small wonder Koné’s marking sometimes seemed a bit confused.
His department became even more disconnected when John O’Shea, the home captain and key defensive organiser hobbled off to be replaced by the less reliable Papy Djilobodji. Indeed the only good news for Wearsiders was the slenderness of the scoreline - something partly attributable to an astonishing miss from Özil whose rather lazy looking attempt to lob Pickford permitted the goalkeeper to reach out a hand and repel a ball he should never have been allowed to reach.
Sunderland rallied a little at the outset of the second half, finally forcing their guests to do some defending, but Djilobodji needed to watch his step after being yellow carded for a sneaky foul on Sánchez.
Arsenal were furious not to be awarded a legitimate looking penalty when Koné caught Sánchez on the back of the leg and sent him tumbling in the area. This sense of injustice turned to incandescent rage when, a few minutes later, Sunderland earned a spot-kick of their own.
It was won courtesy of Watmore’s pace, the winger accelerating into the area, hotly pursued by Laurent Koscielny until his advance was abruptly abridged as Cech blocked his run, leaving him sprawling.
Merely yellow carded, Wenger’s goalkeeper was arguably lucky not to be sent off but Martin Atkinson, the referee, will have noted that Cech was careful to keep his arms close to his sides and could not be sure that Watmore did not seek the penalty by deliberately barging into him.
In any case Cech was easily beaten by Defoe on an afternoon when the former England striker had barely seemed to touch the ball. It was to be a strictly temporary respite after Wenger made a most inspired substitution.
Olivier Giroud, Iwobi’s replacement, had only been on the pitch about a minute when he scored with his first touch, volleying Gibbs’s cross past Pickford after another appealing build up featuring Sánchez.
Suitably spurred, Giroud swiftly scored again, this time outmanoeuvring Dilobodji before heading an Özil corner home. Not to be outdone, Sánchez deservedly claimed the fourth with a shot from close range on the rebound after Gibbs had hit the post and Aaron Ramsey’s attempted follow up was blocked.
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