Advertising Boards & Chaos - How Sunderland Stopped Arsenal Machine

For a agelong while this season, Arsenal person looked an unstoppable force.

They arrived astatine Sunderland connected Saturday looking to widen their winning tally to 11 consecutive games and support a club-record ninth cleanable expanse successful a row.

Victory would person sent them 8 points clear astatine nan apical by nan extremity of nan day, but nan Black Cats that crossed nan Gunners' way astatine nan Stadium of Light were group connected being disruptive.

Regis le Bris' side, nan pre-season relegation favourites, person surpassed each expectations connected their return to nan Premier League and are sitting beautiful successful nan European places for now.

They utilized everything successful their powerfulness to unsettle and yet daze nan convention leaders, earning a 2-2 tie that will person been celebrated acold beyond Wearside.

Sunderland scored nan first extremity Arsenal person conceded since September erstwhile Dan Ballard gave them a first-half lead, and though nan hosts past slipped 2-1 behind, location was a precocious twist arsenic Brian Brobbey scored a melodramatic injury-time equaliser, sparking chaotic scenes of ceremony connected nan transportation and successful nan stands.

From moving advertizing hoardings to "creating chaos", present is really Sunderland achieved specified an awesome result.

Arsenal person been known for playing slick, attacking shot successful nan past, but location has been much directness astir them this season, pinch set-pieces proving peculiarly effective. Long throws person besides progressively been portion of their threat.

To combat nan throw-in danger, Sunderland moved nan advertizing boards astir nan separator of nan transportation person successful than usual, to limit nan magnitude of abstraction Arsenal players had erstwhile looking to motorboat nan ball.

"We tried to find nan specifications to triumph nan game," said Le Bris, erstwhile asked aft nan 2-2 tie if that was true.

"They are really beardown connected set-pieces, we are bully arsenic well, and this threat was really important for this crippled and successful nan extremity it was balanced."

It was so much balanced, pinch Sunderland capable to restrict Arsenal to conscionable 2 corners each crippled - nan aforesaid number they had.

But it was not conscionable astir stopping what Arsenal could do, but besides really Sunderland went astir nan crippled themselves.

Led by their talismanic skipper Granit Xhaka - who revelled successful disrupting his erstwhile squad - Sunderland were fierce and brave successful nan tackle, unsettling their opponents from nan outset.

Even aft Arsenal had seemingly taken power by scoring doubly successful nan 2nd half aft Ballard's first-half opener, Sunderland swarmed guardant successful nan belief that they could find an equaliser.

It was delivered by an acrobatic Brobbey decorativeness successful nan 4th added infinitesimal aft a clever spot into nan punishment area was headed connected towards nan separator of nan six-yard box.

It is not nan first clip Sunderland person sewage their reward for fighting to nan very end, pinch Saturday's precocious leveller nan 5th extremity they person scored from nan 90th infinitesimal onwards - much than immoderate different Premier League side.

"There are a batch of games for illustration this successful nan Premier League correct now," Arsenal leader Mikel Arteta said.

"We conceded a extremity successful a mode we knew was 1 of their biggest strengths. They do that really well.

"After that I deliberation we reacted well. We scored nan first goal, past nan 2nd and nan crippled was dominated. But successful immoderate moment, they conscionable request a foul aliases a agelong throw, a nonstop shot to create that chaos."

Sunderland had a scheme and stuck to it, but nan statistic item conscionable really awesome a consequence it was.

"They ne'er stopped trying, asking questions of Arsenal," erstwhile Sunderland striker Darren Bent said.

"They kept making Arsenal take sides and erstwhile nan chance came they took it."

It was nan 2 ex-Arsenal men - Xhaka and Ballard - who possibly epitomised Sunderland's battling tone best.

Xhaka was nan leader connected nan pitch, orchestrating things successful nan middle, while Ballard drove nan opener past David Raya, provided an assistance for nan equaliser, and made a superb artifact successful nan last fewer seconds to forestall Arsenal snatching nan win.

Ballard started his master profession astatine nan Gunners, having been successful nan club's academy since nan property of eight, but did not make a first-team quality for them earlier joining Sunderland successful 2022.

"It's a bully morale boost to show we tin spell against a really apical squad - astir apt 1 of nan champion successful Europe astatine nan infinitesimal - and delighted pinch that," Ballard told Match of nan Day aft Saturday's game.

"But it is conscionable 1 constituent and we've sewage a batch of activity to do to execute our extremity of staying up this year."

The tie intends Sunderland stay unbeaten astatine location and they person 19 points from 11 games, good connected nan measurement to avoiding relegation arsenic they beryllium 9 points supra nan bottommost three.

"Sunderland went beingness coming but wrong nan laws of nan game, isolated from 1 infinitesimal successful nan first half erstwhile Dan Ballard challenged Mikel Merino successful nan box," Match of nan Day pundit and erstwhile Arsenal guardant Theo Walcott said.

"They were good organised and I didn't deliberation they'd beryllium capable to support it up for 90 minutes.

"There's a logic why Sunderland will beryllium good successful this league. The Stadium of Light is not an easy spot to play football.

"It was nan astir rattled I've seen Gabriel and William Saliba this season."

There is possibly nary harm successful title-challenging sides who are connected agelong winning runs being reminded that they are fallible.

The Gunners person been superb this season, dealing pinch a lengthy wounded database while building a level from which they tin situation to triumph nan Premier League.

Now comes nan world break, which serves arsenic a chance to return banal and retrieve immoderate of their injured players earlier Tottenham sojourn successful nan northbound London derby connected Sunday, 23 November.

"Arsenal won't tie arsenic galore arsenic they did past year. If thing it shows resilience to travel backmost nan measurement they did," Walcott said.

"Arsenal did almost everything correct up until nan past fewer minutes."

Arteta, too, is not reference excessively overmuch into nan result, choosing to attraction connected nan bigger picture.

"We won nan past 10 games, not conceded goals, we person 7 players injured and nan squad has been phenomenal successful performances and results, truthful let's support going," said nan manager.

"We've had immoderate very reliable games arsenic well. Let's get immoderate players backmost and spell again."