For eight minutes, it looked like Arsenal might be in a bit of trouble, flirting with crashing out of the tournament they won two years in a row, at the first time of asking. But then, with a few flicks of the switch Arsenal scored three gorgeous goals to see off Sunderland 3-1 in the third round of the FA Cup at the Emirates.
Jeremain Lens opened the scoring for Sunderland in the 17th minute, robbing Laurent Koscielny of the ball, before thumping it into the back of the net before Petr Cech could really set himself.
However, that was all the joy Sunderland had in front of goal, as Arsenal levelled proceedings on 24 minutes, with Joel Campbell producing the kind of assured finish that, yet again, proves he is going to have a bright future with the club.
It was a nice move from Arsenal with Alex Iwobi, quite impressive playing in a central role behind Olivier Giroud, shifting the ball to Theo Walcott on the right, with the forward picking out Campbell with a cutback. The finish wasn't easy, as the ball bounced up off the turf, but the Costa Rican controlled the shot so well that it swept into the bottom corner, giving Jordan Pickford, the young Sunderland goalkeeper, no chance.
Arsenal could not find the go-ahead goal in the rest of the first half minutes, but they cranked up the pressure in the second, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, playing in the deep midfield role alongside Calum Chambers, striking the base of the post, before Walcott, in need of a goal, fired the rebound wide.
Sunderland, within a couple of minutes of that near-shave, struck the woodwork as well after Steven Fletcher headed a cross from Duncan Watmore onto the crossbar. It would have been pretty harsh on Arsenal to go down a goal again, and the home team ensured that wasn't going to happen by scoring winner in the 72nd minute.
It was another wonderfully-worked move, with Hector Bellerin playing a one-two with Campbell before picking out substitute Aaron Ramsey perfectly for a finish from five yards. Bellerin was the assister again for Arsenal's third goal, getting down the touchline off a nice pass from Mikel Arteta, before playing a perfect low cross for Olivier Giroud to tap-in.
