Pantomime villain Bruno Guimaraes lit up the Stadium of Light with a stunning strike to propel Arsenal to a narrow and nervy victory over Sunderland.
The former Newcastle midfielder's moment of magic followed another seismic contribution from Arsenal's keeper, David Raya, who made a world-class penalty save to wrestle the momentum away from the hosts, who had appeared to have the Premier League champions on the ropes.
Arsenal academy graduate Dan Ballard almost gave Sunderland the lead with a quarter of an hour on the clock. Kai Havertz then spurned two good chances for the Gunners but Sunderland finished the first half stronger. Shortly after the restart, Enzo Le Fee blew a golden opportunity to give Sunderland a deserved lead from the spot with Raya producing a splendid save to deny the midfielder as the game jolted into life.
Two minutes and two seconds later, Sunderland were behind. Just to rub salt into the wounds it was Guimaraes, synonymous with the Black Cats' bitter rivals, Newcastle, who unleashed a thunderbolt which kissed the underside of the crossbar on its way past Roefs.
