Arsenal 2 Sunderland 0: Sanchez keeps top- four hopes alive + Highlight

Alexis Sanchez netted twice in the final 20 minutes
to help Arsenal to a 2-0 Premier League win over
Sunderland and keep their top-four hopes alive.
Arsene Wenger's men created numerous chances
at Emirates Stadium, but initially struggled to find a
way past the impressive Jordan Pickford.
The Sunderland goalkeeper was unable to prevent
Sanchez from delivering Arsenal the win, though,
as the Chilean was left with an easy finish by
Mesut Ozil with 18 minutes left on the clock,
before adding a second in the 81st minute.
Arsenal find themselves trailing fourth-placed
Liverpool by one point heading into their final game
of the league season following Tuesday's win.
A win over Everton will be enough to secure
Champions League football if Liverpool lose to
Middlesbrough on Sunday, while a draw could still
do the trick for Arsene Wenger's side.
Arsenal made an encouraging start and Sanchez
thought he had opened the scoring in the ninth
minute with a powerful shot from outside the area
that took a deflection off Olivier Giroud's arm, only
for referee Roger East to rightly disallow the goal.
The home side continued to push for the opener
and Giroud was unfortunate to be denied by
goalkeeper Jordan Pickford after a clever
throughball from Aaron Ramsey, before Hector
Bellerin curled a shot just over the crossbar.
Sunderland slowly grew into the game from there
on and Didier Ndong and Jermain Defoe both got
chances to break the deadlock late in the first half,
goalkeeper Petr Cech pulling off two smart saves to
keep things all square.
Bellerin then should have handed the hosts the
lead in the 44th minute when sent clean through
on goal by Ozil, but the right-back hesitated for too
long and eventually only hit the side netting from a
narrow angle.
Arsenal continued to dominate after the break and
Giroud came within inches of handing the hosts the
lead when he beat his marker to Rob Holding's
cross from the right, seeing his header going just
wide at the far post.
Wenger then brought on Danny Welbeck and the
former Manchester United man almost made an
immediate impact, forcing Pickford into a smart
save with his low strike from just inside the box.
There was nothing Pickford could do to deny
Sanchez, however, the Chile international coolly
slotting the ball into the empty net after being
presented with a gilt-edged chance by Ozil.
The Sunderland shot stopper then pulled off a
number of fine saves to keep his side's hopes of
salvaging a draw alive, but he was eventually
beaten a second time by Sanchez in the 81st
minute, the forward again tapping home from just
yards out to seal the win.