Throughout the years, the Arsenal attack has been spearheaded by some of the game's most clinical frontmen.

Thierry Henry tops the club's charts with 228 goals to his name, while he is trailed by the likes of Ian Wright, Cliff Bastin and John Radford on a list dominated by Englishman.

Yet, along with Henry, there is one more foreigner in the top 10 - in seventh place to be precise. That man is Robin van Persie, who scored 132 times in all competitions during his eight-year spell with the Gunners.

The Dutchman fired in two of those goals seven years ago today when Sunderland visited the Emirates Stadium.

The formbook suggested that it would be a routine victory for the home side, largely because they had not been beaten in any of their opening seven games, while Roy Keane's newly-promoted Black Cats had lost on four occasions.

True to the script, within 14 minutes, it seemed that Arsenal had secured all three points. Van Persie broke the deadlock from a free kick that beat visiting goalkeeper Craig Gordon via the underside of the crossbar.

Then, the lead was doubled as centre-back Philippe Senderos stabbed home a cross from Emmanuel Adebayor.

However, rather than accept their fate, Keane's men rallied and pulled a goal back in the 25th minute. Manuel Almunia initially denied Kenwyne Jones, but Ross Wallace was on hand to convert the rebound.

The remainder of the half was dominated by Arsenal, yet they failed to restore their two-goal advantage and just three minutes after the restart, the away side were level.

Liam Miller picked out Jones with a cross and the centre-forward rose highest to head his effort beyond the reach of Almunia.

Still Arsenal pressed forward, although now they were looking for a winning goal. Kolo Toure saw his effort from long range crash against the upright, while substitute Theo Walcott spurned a good opportunity.

They did not prove to be costly failings, though, because with 10 minutes left to play, Van Persie struck for a second and decisive time. Walcott slipped in the striker and with just Gordon to beat, he found the corner of the net.

In a further blow to Sunderland, in stoppage time defender Paul McShane was handed his marching orders for a wild challenge on Arsenal midfielder Alexander Hleb.

Speaking after the match, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger told reporters: "After 15 minutes, the game looked to be easy and maybe we convinced ourselves of that as well. Part of our mental focus went and when you do that at this level, you pay for it.

"At the end of the day it was a good lesson for us, because again we still found the resources which showed that there is something in the team which is really strong."

Meanwhile, Keane added: "If you get off to a poor start, you think that it could be five or six. But we stayed in the game and got a decent first goal.

"I keep talking about the attitude and character, and also there was some very good play. The lads gave it their all, but you need a hell of a lot of luck to get positive results at these grounds. We had a bit, but not enough."

ARSENAL: Almunia; Sagna (Eboue), Toure, Senderos, Clichy; Hleb, Fabregas, Flamini, Diaby (Walcott); Adebayor, Van Persie (Silva)

SUNDERLAND: Gordon; McShane, Nosworthy, Higginbotham, Collins; Leadbitter, Miller, Wallace (Etuhu), Yorke (Harte); Chopra (Stokes), Jones