Arsenal will travel to Sunderland on Saturday to take on their northern rivals in the English Premier League with the Gunners looking to climb up into the top five with a victory today. The game kicks off at 3 p.m. UK time and can be watched online through live stream by clicking here.

The Gunners lie in sixth place in the EPL coming into this game with 41 points from their 25 games so far. As the season heads towards the final third the Gunners know time is running out if they are to make an assault on the top four, or even the top five.

At the moment Everton sit a place above the Gunners with a single point advantage over their north London rivals. Everton are not in action on Saturday, meaning if Arsenal can win today away to Sunderland then they can move up into fifth and put pressure on Everton to match their result.

Sunderland meanwhile will know they still have work to do to guarantee their EPL status. They are currently doing well in 12th place with 29 points from their 25 games. However, it is generally thought that 40 points is the mark teams need to hit to avoid relegation.

Sunderland are at home today and will be hopeful of picking up some points from this game even though they are playing one of the top teams. They will know how important it is to pick up points from their home games and if they allow themselves to come out empty handed from their home games then it could spell trouble for them.

After this game Sunderland will play a stream of teams they will be hopeful of claiming points from, meaning this is an important stretch for them. They will play West Brom in a few weeks time followed by matches against Fulham and QPR. After that they will be at home to Norwich. If they can claim a few wins and a few draws out of these games they will be almost home at their 40 mark goal.

For today’s match Sunderland winger James McClean is a major doubt after hurting his ankle on international duty. Carlos Cuellar could return from a hamstring problem, but Lee Cattermole (knee) is unlikely to feature.

Meanwhile on the Arsenal side, defender Laurent Koscielny will have a fitness test on his calf injury, while Thomas Vermaelen (ankle) is out.

History-wise, Sunderland's only win in their last 18 league meetings with Arsenal came at the Stadium of Light in November 2009 when Darren Bent scored the decisive goal.

In addition, Arsene Wenger has lost only one of his 18 league matches against teams managed by Martin O'Neill, winning 10 and drawing 7 of those games.

In build up to the game here is a video of Theo Walcott's top 20 goals: