Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain says the way Alexis Sanchez closes down opponents reminds him of the energy of former Liverpool striker Luis Suarez.

Heaping praise on the Chilean international after his brace sealed three points for the Gunners away at Sunderland, the England midfielder drew a comparison with the punchable, tooth-faced, bitey racist…but in a good way.

“He’s a world-class player – everyone saw that at the World Cup. He’s proved that and he’s played for Barcelona where we’ve all seen what he’s done.

“He’s an unbelievable player and part of his game is his character and his hard work – that’s where he’s got both his goals from today.

“He reminds me of Luis Suarez when he chases everything down and he makes nothing into something. He’s done that for us twice today and he’s scored goals at important times for us.”

He certainly has. The double at the Stadium of Light took Alexis’ tally for the season to eight for the season, a damn impressive start for someone getting used to new surroundings. If you’ve a spare moment, do take a read of @7amkickoff’s latest post where the Suarez comparison is further analysed.

Meanwhile, Wojciech Szczesny doesn’t give a fish’s tit about how the Gunners beat Gus Poyet’s Black Cats. Accepting it wasn’t Arsenal’s best performance the Polish keeper instead focused on the positive of securing a rare clean sheet.

“I couldn’t care less about the tempo of the game and how we played,” the goalkeeper told Arsenal Player.

“You expect a tough, physical game here so that means you have to dig in, defend and try to score goals on the counter-attack. We did that today and I’m delighted with it.

“We’ve not kept a clean sheet for a long time so it was good to get one. Hopefully we can keep a few in the coming games because we have conceded a few too many goals.

“The only way to get the momentum is by winning games. We’ve won two now after winning midweek in Brussels as well, so we’re looking forward to the next game. If we keep winning then we’ll be very happy.”