Vito Mannone - 7
Couldn't really be faulted today. Not responsible for any of the goals and made a couple of good stops from Podolski and Gnabry. Mostly just felt sorry for him having to play behind the shower of idiots we're going to talk about next.
Phil Bardsley - 4
I have a bit of sympathy for Bardsley. If I was playing in a team 3-0 down knowing that I've got one of the biggest games of my career coming up I might find it hard to care enough to do things I'm supposed to do, such as defending a corner. Pretty poor game from the right back today.
Marcos Alonso - 6
Pick of the back four, not because he was particularly good at defending, but because he he showed some good stuff further up the pitch. Put a couple of good crosses in and linked up well with Borini a few times.
John O'Shea - 5
Couldn't deal with Arsenal's movement.
Santiago Vergini - 2
An absolutely horror show from Vergini. Atrocious backpass for Arsenal's second, and had no clue how to deal with his opponents fluid play. Gave away a number of needless fouls and just generally played like what autocorrect changes his name to on iPhones.
Liam Bridcutt - 4
Disappointing from Bridcutt today. Barely got on the ball all day and Arsenal's midfield trampled all over him. While I understand it made sense to play him, due to the former Brighton man being cup-tied for next week game, and while I still think he's shown enough promise in previous matches to suggest he'll be a success, this was a game far more suited to Lee Cattermole than Bridcutt, and it was the wrong choice not to play the former.
Ki Sung-Yeung - 5
Made some decent runs occasionally, and tested Szczesny once, but was mostly a pedestrian in the game.
Jack Colback - 3
Colback was as bad here as he was brilliant in the derby. Was out-muscled in midfield on a number of occasion, and made barely an attempt at a tackle, standing off Arsenal and giving their midfielders far too much space to play at their will. Represented a lot of what Sunderland did wrong in the first half.
Fabio Borini - 6
Frustrating at times, particularly with his inability to beat the offside trap, but looked decent when moved into the middle, where Sunderland actually occasionally looked threatening. Some good link-up play with Giaccherini.
Adam Johnson - 4
Anonymous.
Jozy Altidore - 4
To be fair, it's would be harsh to blame the poor first half performance on Jozy. He was completely isolated, and Sunderland lost this game because of being rubbish at further down the pitch, but Altidore still offered absolutely nothing and we looked a lot livelier when Borini moved into the middle.
Emanuele Giaccherini - 7
Another promising performance from Giaccherini after coming on. More on him below.
Seb Larsson - 6
Delivered a couple of dangerous crosses and was probably Sunderland's best midfield player in the game.
Nacho Scocco - 5
Still waiting to get to full fitness, but looked pretty good on the ball and linked up well with Giaccherini and Borini.
Man Of The Match: Emanuele Giaccherini
Could have given this to Mannone, but he's getting it every week at the minute, so I'll go with Giaccherini. Another very promising performance from the Italian after coming on at half time. Sunderland, who had been about as threatening as Jack Colback telling you he was going to mug you at a cash point, actually started to show some attacking intent. His goal was one of pure quality, with a wonderful first touch matched only by the strike. Most promising was his link-up play with Fabio Borini, which suggested that the two could make an unconventional partnership up front. Pushed his claim for a Wembely starting berth with his last two performances.
We'll have more match reaction right HERE in our match stream tonight, tomorrow and probably on Monday so keep checking back in!