Sunderland host Arsenal at the Stadium of Light in today’s 3:00 kick-off looking to follow the example set by Hull City last weekend.

The newly-promoted Tigers ripped up the formbook and made a mockery of the bookmakers who made them distant outsiders to take anything away from the Emirates Stadium as they left north London with a 2-1 victory.

That result has given the rest of the top-flight’s lesser lights belief that they too can compete on any given day with the top four and it’s fair to assume that Black Cats boss Roy Keane will have conveyed that to his players this week.

Injury concerns continue to hamper Keane’s plans though as he will once again be without Kenwyne Jones (knee), Teemu Tainio (shoulder), Nyron Nosworthy (hamstring) and possibly Phil Bardsley (ankle).

Arsene Wenger admitted he felt sickened by Arsenal’s ‘careless’ defeat at the hands of Hull, which also saw them relinquish their position at the top of the Premier League table to Chelsea.

However, the Frenchman was heartened by his side’s 4-0 Champions League thrashing of FC Porto on Tuesday night with Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie both bagging braces.

Domestically, Arsenal have now been beaten twice – which is just one less than the total number of losses they suffered during the entire 38 games of last year’s campaign – so Wenger knows any further slip-ups could be costly.

The Gunners remain unable to call on the services of Abou Diaby (thigh), Tomas Rosicky (hamstring) and Eduardo da Silva (broken ankle).

Predicted Starting XI

Almunia
Sagna – Toure – Gallas – Clichy
Walcott – Fabregas – Denilson – Nasri
Adebayor – van Persie

Match Prediction: Sunderland 1-3 Arsenal

Catch all the post-match reaction and player ratings here on Gooner Talk seconds after the final whistle.

Leave your views and predictions of this afternoon’s game in the comments section below.

Arsenal’s Head of Youth Development officer Liam Brady has been discharged from hospital in Dublin following his health scare on Thursday morning.

Brady, 52, who is also the Republic of Ireland’s assistant manager, was taken to Beaumont Hospital early on Thursday morning after complaining of back and chest pains and was detained overnight for tests.

However, the FAI confirmed that he has now been released and will be on duty at the Barclays Premier League clash between Tottenham and Sunderland at White Hart Lane along with Giovanni Trapattoni’s other lieutenant, Marco Tardelli.

An FAI statement said:

“Republic of Ireland assistant team manager, Liam Brady, has been discharged from Beaumont hospital this afternoon following completion of his medical examinations.

“He has been given a clean bill of health and has told us he will return to work tomorrow, when he will travel to London to be at the Tottenham v Sunderland match with Marco Tardelli.”

The Arsenal Under 18′s campaign begins tomorrow with a game against Everton. Liam Brady won’t be at the match but he, just like you, can be sure to follow all the post-match action over at our good friends Young Guns.

Arsenal have been linked with a whole host of players throughout the summer but one of the most unlikely names to have been mentioned is Manchester United’s defender Mikaël Silvestre.

The 31-year-old has played over 249 games for the Premier League and Champions League winners and the media have today linked him with a move to the club.

Silvestre was reportedly undergoing a medical at bitter neighbours Man City when his agent phoned him to say that Arsenal had an interest in him.

According to unreliable British newspaper The Sun, Mikaël immediately abandoned the medical and hurtled down the M1 to meet Gunners boss Wenger and discuss terms.

Would Arsene Wenger really go for an injury-prone defender who’s pay packet is expected to be as high as £50k? Or maybe somebody saw Gunners’ target Gokhan Inler go into Arsenal’s London Colney training ground and mistook him for lookalike Silvestre?!

We want your views on this crazy rumour!

Middlesbrough have completed the £3million signing of full-back Justin Hoyte from Arsenal on a four-year contract.

The 23-year-old, a former England Under-21 international, has agreed a deal to stay with the Teessiders until the summer of 2012.

On his move, Hoyte seemed surprised at how quick everything had been sorted.

“It was very strange travelling to a Champions League qualifier and being on the bench for that game and the next day coming to training and finding out I was coming to Middlesbrough, but it’s something I’m looking forward to.

“It happened so fast, I found out Boro were interested, then they’d had a bid accepted and the next day I was up here having a medical.” Hoyte told Boro’s official site.

The full-back had struggled to gain regular first-team football and had a previous loan spell in the North-East with Sunderland.

He was presented to the Boro crowd ahead of Saturday afternoon’s Premier League opener against Tottenham, but the deal wasn’t completed in time to allow him to play.

Arsenal have accepted Middlesbrough’s reported £3.5million offer for full-back Justin Hoyte after both clubs agreed that the fullback can talk to the north East side.

Boro are keen to get a right-back in place before the start of the season, having sold Luke Young to Aston Villa. However, with the opener against Tottenham set for this weekend, it will be race against time for the Englishman’s transfer to go through for him to be eligible to play.

Chief executive Keith Lamb said on Boro’s official website: “We have agreed a fee with Arsenal and we have now been given permission to speak to Justin, which we will be doing in the next 24 to 48 hours.”

Hoyte joined Arsenal as an 11-year-old and made his first-team debut as a substitute against Southampton in 2003.

However, he failed to establish himself as a first-choice pick for Arsene Wenger and joined Sunderland on loan for the 2005-06 season.

Hoyte then returned to the Gunners and provided injury cover the next season, becoming the first Englishman to score for Arsenal at the new Emirates Stadium against Charlton in January 2007.

Last summer Hoyte was linked with Villa, but Wenger announced he would not be sold and would compete with Bacary Sagna for the right-back spot.

Reports earlier this week suggested Middlesborough were lining up a bid for Hoyte, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admitted after the FC Twente game in his post-match interview that Boro were interested in the fullback.

Good luck to Hoytey and lets hope he can have a successful career at his new club!