By Chris Wright

How about that? The very same batch of players who managed to earn Steve Bruce a paltry 11 points from 13 games have since raked in 19 points from nine games under Martin O'Neill (including last night's 3-0 victory over Norwich), a run that would see them topping the Premier League had they begun counting after O'Neill's first game in charge of the Black Cats; a 2-1 win over Blackburn on December 11th.

Sunderland v Arsenal Preview, Prediction, TV Listings, Betting Odds EPL 11 February 2012 - The 90th Minute Soccer Blog

The Black Cats have won their last three league matches as they host 6th place Arsenal in the English Premier League. The match will take place at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland, England on Saturday, February 11, 2012.

Arsenal have two visits to Sunderland on consecutive Saturdays in different competitions and both have the potential to improve the season but could also make it far worse. The focus for now, obviously, has to be on the more immediate fixture that is the upcoming League meeting.

It would be an understatement to suggest that Martin O'Neill has turned the fortunes of the Black Cats around.

Sunderland got revenge for last weeks League defeat by Arsenal by knocking the Gunners out of the FA Cup yesterday evening. The Black Cats had the benefit of a week's rest between games while Arsenal were getting battered in Italy and, according to Arsene Wenger, the tired legs obviously contributed to the weak performance.

By Alan Duffy

Stoke City 0-1 Sunderland Premier League 4th February 2012

Martin O'Neill's Black Cats continued their ascent of the table on Saturday against Stoke, although the very harsh sending-off of Robert Huth on half-time was undeniably a game-changing moment.

Sunderland manager Martin O'Neill has backed tomorrow's opponents Arsenal to silence their critics, making it clear that the Gunners have sufficient talent to prevail at the Stadium of Light.

Arsene Wenger's men are three points adrift of fourth-place Chelsea and have relied heavily on the incredible form of skipper Robin van Persie, who scored a brilliant hat-trick in last weekend's 7-1 rout of Blackburn.

Sunderland

Position 8th, 9-6-9 (33 points, +9 goal differential)

Home Record: 5-4-3, +8 goal differential

Recent Form: WLWWW

Last Meeting: Arsenal 2 Sunderland 1 (October 17, 2011)

Crucial match .

Sunderland boss Martin O'Neill admits that the Black Cats will have their hands full when they entertain Arsenal at the Stadium of Light today, particularly given the dexterity of Gunners youngster Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

The teenage sensation has quickly become a fan favorite at Arsenal, setting up Robin van Persie's equalizer in the 2-1 defeat against Manchester United and then displaying his scoring abilities by netting twice in last weekend's 7-1 destruction of Blackburn.

Thierry Henry came off the bench in his last Premier League appearance for Arsenal this year and capped the occasion off in perfect style with a late stoppage time goal that wrapped up all three points for the Gunners.

In a toughly contested match at the Stadium of Light, James McLean opened the scoring for Sunderland 25 minutes into the second half, when he capitalized on Per Mertesacker's slip to guide the ball past Wojciech Szczesny from an acute angle.

By Alan Duffy

Sunderland 1-2 Arsenal Premier League 11th February 2012

Some wondered if Thierry Henry's brief return to Arsenal would damage his iconic status with the north Londoners, however, in netting his second winner (and third goal) of his loan spell against an impressive Sunderland side, the Frenchman has entered the realm of the God-like for Gooners all over the world.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has provided a grim injury update ahead of this weekend's FA Cup clash with Sunderland, suggesting that Germany international defender Per Mertesacker is likely to miss the rest of the season.

Mertesacker had to be withdrawn from last weekend's Premier League match against the Black Cats at Wearside and although his replacement Aaron Ramsey quickly scored to spark the Gunners to life en route to a 2-1 win, the loss of the former Werder Bremen center-half is certainly massive.

FA Cup Tips: Tough weekend for Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

The latest betting tips for the FA Cup weekend:

Sunderland v Arsenal

It's FA Cup weekend, with the feature game seeing Sunderland take on Arsenal at the Stadium of Light (5.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

While Real Madrid have all but wrapped up the La Liga title, Barcelona still have work to do to lock down second place.

The defending champions welcome third-placed Valencia in one of the more intriguing non-Clasico games of the season.

Football Association Cup

Sunderland v Arsenal

Stadium of Light

Saturday 18th February 17.15

For the third time this season Arsenal face Sunderland, this time in the fifth round of the FA Cup. The two previous meetings ended in 2 1 wins for The Gunners with Thierry Henry scoring the injury time winner last Saturday.

By Alan Duffy

Sunderland 2-0 Arsenal FA Cup 18th February 2012

After seeing his side all but go out of the Champions League on Wednesday in Milan, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger witnessed another appalling performance from his beleaguered side at Sunderland on Saturday.

English FA Cup Recap 18 February 2012 - The 90th Minute Soccer Blog

Below are brief recaps for all the FA Cup matches on February 18, 2012.

Chelsea 1-1 Birmingham

Birmingham starts off strong with a 20th minute Danny Murphy goal but Chelsea equalizes with a 62nd minute Daniel Sturridge goal.

It seems the Republic of Ireland fans have finally got their wish after manager Giovanni Trapattoni called James McClean into the squad to face the Czech Rep on February 29, Trapattoni had originally left the in-form Sunderland winger out of the squad but with another great performance against Arsenal to his name McClean was a must for the squad.

The Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner got a boot in the nose from Angel Rangel when Sunderland played Swansea about a month ago, but the Black Cats have been playing brilliantly in his absence (including two games against his parent club) and Martin O'Neill now says that he will have to fight to regain his place [.