Under-fire Sunderland players '˜giving their best' says David Moyes

The under-pressure Black Cats boss says the attitude and commitment of his players cannot be questioned, but he admits his side is lacking quality.

Jermain Defoe’s penalty cancelled out Alexis Sanchez’s first-half opener, but Arsenal then quickly brushed Sunderland aside in a devastating seven-minute spell.

Sub Olivier Giroud scored twice, with Sanchez adding a fourth as the Gunners maintained their superb away form which has only see them drop two points away all season.

“What I have said to you, these players are giving their best, they are trying everything they can to get a result,” said Moyes.

“It’s not as if that’s not the case.

“But I do think that if we got a few of the injuries back then we might find a little bit more than what we’ve got.

“But, in truth, we are where we are. The players are trying and we’re trying to make them play a little bit better, be better on the ball.

“I think there were moments in the game, you’d probably say ‘yeah’. You probably saw that at times.

“We are lacking quality at the top end to really make the difference as you can probably see as well. But we are definitely trying to find a way of doing it better.

“I said to the players I was disappointed with the goals we lost, but a lot of the stuff, I have to say ‘well done’ for sticking at it.”

Moyes had a post-match chat with his Arsenal counterpart, Arsene Wenger.

“I said to him his team’s quality was the difference and obviously he was well aware of that. They look a good team,” said Moyes.

“Maybe they will go under the radar a little bit with winning the league because there is a lot of focus on everyone else and maybe them, Liverpool and Tottenham could all make a bit of a go for it this year.”

When asked what did Wenger say about Sunderland, Moyes added: “He said it’s a difficult job. And I said ‘yeah’.”