and spending almost four months out of action, Bendtner's first appearance of the season came as a substitute against Birmingham City on 16 October. On 24 October, he scored his first goal of the season in a 3–0 away win against Manchester City. Three days later, he scored again in a match against Newcastle United in the League Cup at St James' Park, as Arsenal won 4–0. Bendtner scored his first goal of 2011 on 25 January against Ipswich Town in the League Cup, to level the aggregate score at 1–1. Arsenal won the match 3–0, and 3–1 on aggregate. The goal earned him the Arsenal Goal of the Month award for January. On 2 March, Bendtner scored a hat-trick in the FA Cup fifth round replay against League One team Leyton Orient. it was his first hat-trick for nearly a year, and the first by an Arsenal player in an FA Cup tie since Ian Wright's against Yeovil Town in 1993. Bendtner was left out of Arsenal's 2011 summer tour of Asia while talks took place over a transfer. Amid rumours of interest from Stoke City and Borussia Dortmund, as well as confirmed interest from Hamburg sporting director Frank Arnesen, Bendtner made public his desire to leave Arsenal in August, citing the need for first-team football as motivation. Loan to Sunderland On the last day of the August 2011 transfer window, Premier League club Sunderland completed a one-year loan deal for Bendtner; the striker linked up again with manager Steve Bruce. A couple of days later, Bendtner was reported as saying that he would never play for Arsenal again because he was not given the opportunity to establish himself in the first team after his car accident. On his debut, he made an assist against Chelsea. His first goal came on 1 October to begin Sunderland's comeback from 2–0 down to draw with West Bromwich Albion, and he made the cross from which Ahmed Elmohamady equalised. Bendtner had to wait three weeks for the Dubious Goals Committee to credit him with the goal, which had gone into the net off Gareth McAuley. Bendtner's second goal for Sunderland came in injury time against Bolton Wanderers; the match ended 2–0 and was Sunderland's first away win of the season. He scored his third in a 3–2 win at Queens Park Rangers. On 21 January 2012, Bendtner fractured his eye-socket in a