2007-10-07 : Arsenal v Sunderland

Dear Supporter,
We let Sunderland back into the match on Sunday because after 15 minutes the game appeared to be easy and maybe we convinced ourselves of that. I feel that a bit of our mental focus went and then you lose three or four per cent, and at that level of course you pay for it.

We had less urgency in our decision-making, we gave them more room to express themselves defensively and we paid for it. Sunderland made it difficult for us and at the end of the day it was a good lesson for us because they came back to 2-2 and we had to find the resources to get the late winner.

Losing that two-goal lead was very frustrating. When you have experience in football you know that 2-1 is the biggest change psychologically for any game. At 2-1 a team who is losing the game thinks they have a chance, a team that is winning thinks they can now drop points. It gave Sunderland a lot of confidence.

Of course, if Abou Diaby's 'goal' had been given it would have been different. I don't know how the referee's assistant could disallow that goal and certainly that would have changed the game completely. But you can only live with the decisions that are made and in the end we found the third goal.

The third goal always looked like it was coming, but when you hit the post once or twice and you don't score, you never know. And Sunderland looked good going forward, in fairness.

Theo Walcott made a difference when he came on because I felt that we needed some pace to go in behind Sunderland's defence. We gave them too much of the ball and that made it easier for them. Theo gave us something that was certainly needed and he set up the winning goal for Robin van Persie.

Gilberto also came off the bench. He has not played as many games this season so far but I have a strong relationship with Gilberto, I have a huge respect for him. At the moment it is frustrating for him but he is an important player for us. It is a selection problem at the moment but he will come back.

We are back on top of the Premier League but it is too early to talk about the title. What is a good sign is when you lose a two-goal lead you can still win - it means there is great strength and resilience in the team.

The potential is there for us to be very good but the competition at this level is very high. Sunderland are near the bottom of the league but they still gave us problems so we have to keep very humble and hardworking for each other.

Thanks for your support.