Arsenal got the defence of their FA Cup crown off to a winning start this afternoon with a 3-1 victory over Sunderland at the Emirates Stadium.

The 12-time winners of the competition were forced to come from behind at the start of their quest to become the first team to win it three years in a row since the 1880s, but goals from Joel Campbell, Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud handed the Gunners a 13th consecutive FA Cup win.

Sam Allardyce handed a debut to young goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, and he was called into action inside the opening 10 minutes when a sweeping Arsenal counter ended with Kieran Gibbs thumping a powerful effort towards goal.

Calum Chambers headed off target from the resulting corner, but it was Sunderland who took the lead shortly afterwards as Jeremain Lens caught Laurent Koscielny in possession on the edge of the Arsenal box before firing a clinical finish past Petr Cech.

The lead lasted only 10 minutes, however, as the hosts restored parity through Campbell, who steered his controlled half-volley into the bottom corner after Theo Walcott had reached the byline down the left flank.

Walcott threatened to get his own name on the scoresheet moments later as he sent a bobbling effort towards the bottom corner from 25 yards that Pickford had to parry away.

It was Arsenal who began the second half on top too, and they came close to gaining the lead when Alex Iwobi threaded a pass through to Campbell down the right, only for the Costa Rican's cut-back to be cleared away by DeAndre Yedlin underneath his own crossbar.

The Gunners came even closer to a second goal moments later when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain worked space to shoot from the edge of the box, only to see his low curling effort come back off the post, while Walcott was unable to steer the rebound on target.

Sunderland responded in kind against the run of play, however, being denied by the woodwork themselves when Steven Fletcher's header from a Yedlin cross hit the bar and Duncan Watmore blazed the rebound over.

The chances continued to arrive at both ends as Pickford came to the rescue by smothering Campbell in a one-on-one situation, while Fletcher steered another header over the bar when he should have done better shortly afterwards.

Walcott then drew another save from Pickford before Arsenal finally took the lead through Ramsey, who was left with a simple finish after Hector Bellerin had exchanged passes with Campbell and put the ball on a plate for the Arsenal midfielder.

A third goal arrived just four minutes later as Arsenal killed the contest off, and again it was Bellerin who was the provider, this time sending a low ball in for Giroud to finish from close range.

The Gunners went in search of more and perhaps should have had a penalty when Giroud went down inside the box, but they were given a scare seconds later at the other end of the field when Cech was forced to deny Danny Graham.

That proved to be Sunderland's final threat as Arsenal comfortably saw out the remainder of the match to maintain their record of never having lost a third-round FA Cup game under Arsene Wenger.