Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction – Video
Well, it had to happen some day. Arsenal had gone 8 games without conceding a goal, last night we let in two against Sunderland as we came away from the Stadium of Light with just a point. You can’t be defensively perfect all the time, and that was very much the case for the two we conceded.
I think if Sunderland could have written a script for the first half it would have gone exactly as it played out in front of us. It was tough, scrappy, stop-start, and they got a goal to put them 1-0 up. It came from a free kick just inside their half, the keeper launched it forward and we didn’t defend it properly. I don’t think Declan Rice challenged well enough for the header, and then Dan Ballard reacted more quickly, ran off him, and spanked the ball home from close range to make it 1-0.
Our best chance of the half came late, when Bukayo Saka nodded the ball down for William Saliba, but from the penalty spot he blasted the ball over. Sunderland wanted a free kick for a supposed foul by Saka, but there was nothing in it for me, the player just threw himself down hoping the ref would whistle. An escape for them, a chance missed for us, but that first half was below par from Arsenal.
Clearly the manager had something to say at the break because we were far, far better in the second period. Eberechi Eze had a shot blocked, Martin Zubimendi popped up in the box but his left-footed effort was tame, before Saka drifted into the inside-left position to drag a shot wide. That was all in the first 6 minutes of the second half, and it wasn’t long before the pressure really told.
Sunderland were careless in midfield, but Rice was alert to it, winning the ball before feeding Eze who found Mikel Merino. He laid it off for Saka whose right footed finish inside the near post was laser-guided. The precision of that with his wrong foot shouldn’t be underestimated, and it was a great time to score given how long there was still to go.
Eze had another go, his hooked effort went straight at the keeper; Leandro Trossard’s crafty pass put Zubimendi through but he poked his effort just wide; and the Spaniard was so unlucky not to put us ahead with a shot from the edge of the box that cannoned off the bar and away to safety. So, I don’t think it’s unfair to say that when the second goal came we were good value for it.
Trossard had the ball outside their box, made space for a shot and unleashed an absolute rocket that was still rising as it hit the back of the net. It immediately reminded me of that Andre Arshavin goal at Anfield all those years ago, and the Belgian international continues to demonstrate he is far more valuable to us than any transfer fee we might have received for him late in the summer. With 4 goals and 4 assists, no player has more goal contributions than him this season, and that goal should have been enough for Arsenal to take three points.
We didn’t have the kind of control you’ve often seen Arsenal see out games with, and David Raya had to make a couple of really important saves. However, I just feel we didn’t use our bench well enough last night. Sunderland added more energy to their forward line with a triple sub that ultimately paid dividends for them, and our only change was Cristhian Mosquera. It’s no slight on him at all, because he did fine when he came on, but while I recognise we’re very light at the attacking end, Arteta still had quality players like Ben White, Piero Hincapie, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Christian Norgaard and Ethan Nwaneri available to him.
I do understand when managers make a change to see out a game defensively, and I think that’s even more relatable when it comes to this Arsenal team given our defensive strength, but I feel like we handed too much of the initiative to Sunderland with the Mosquera decision while at the same time eschewing what else we had on the bench. Extra energy might have allowed us to play more of the game in their half, a much less dangerous place to be.
In the end, they kept the pressure up, we didn’t win a header in our box, and Brian Brobbey produced an excellent acrobatic finish to make it 2-2. I’m not sure Raya needed to get involved in that moment, but he likes to be decisive, he’d already made a couple of saves as I mentioned, and I think his blood was up, so to speak. When he got nothing on the ball, there was only one place it was going to end up. There were Arsenal complaints, but there was nothing wrong with the goal other than our defending.
Even so, there was a chance to win it when Riccardo Calafiori’s header from a Saka cross was well saved, and Ballard made a sensational block to deny Merino’s follow up. It’s quite funny that all the pre-game chat was about Granit Xhaka, but a much less feted former Gunner (who never played a first team game for us) was the man who came back to haunt us – scoring the first and winning the header for their second. Football, eh?!
Sunderland will probably feel like they worked hard enough to earn a point, and you have to credit the opposition when they keep going and persist in making life hard for you. Arsenal will certainly feel like these were points dropped given the position we’d got ourselves into. I think both things can be true. Afterwards, Mikel Arteta said:
Obviously the last feeling is disappointment and frustration because we wanted the three points and we had to navigate through a really tough game. We knew that they would be very disruptive. We conceded a goal that is not in our standards but after that I think the team reacted really well, showed a lot of personality and courage, scored the first goal, scored the second goal. We have totally dominated the game.
You have to credit the opposition as well. They are unbeaten here for a reason and they do what they do really, really well and they make it very difficult for you.
It’s always painful to concede so late, but I don’t think a point away from home is a terrible result either. Arteta referenced the players we had missing in his post-game comments, and I do think it’s worth reflecting on how well we’ve done in their absence to put some context on any disappointment. I also think if Sunderland can continue to be as difficult as that at the Stadium of Light, we won’t be the only team to drop points there.
So, we go into the break top of the table, with a lead of at least 4 points depending on what happens today between Man City and Liverpool (a draw would give us a 6 point lead, so fingers crossed). I reckon if anyone had offered you that coming out of the last Interlull, you’d have bitten their hand off. Now, there’s some time for the manager to take stock, analyse the good and the bad of this last period, and hopefully get some players back and ready to contribute.
For more on this game and the wider context after today’s fixtures, you can join myself and James tomorrow for an Arsecast Extra. For now, have a great Sunday folks.
