To paraphrase Sam Allardyce, Sunderland will be respecting the hell out of that point. This goalless draw takes them above Norwich City on goal difference and out of the bottom three. With four games left, they’re also a point above Newcastle United and have a game in hand on their neighbours. As for Arsenal, they stay fourth. But of course. Thanks for reading. Bye.
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Full-time: Sunderland 0-0 Arsenal
That is that.
90 min+4: Watmore is through. The flag is up. That should be that.
90 min+3: Khazri knocks the ball wide to Van Aarnholt, whose cross is blocked by the first man. Dearie me. Khazri is booked for stopping an Arsenal counter by tugging Wilshere’s shirt.
90 min+2: Koscileny is booked for catching the surging Watmore. Another set-piece for Sunderland. This one is in a central position and it’s probably too far out for a shot. Allardyce is chuckling.
90 min+1: There will be four minutes of added time. And Sunderland have another corner, this time on the right. Khazri’s delivery is only partially cleared and Kone sends an overhead kick over the bar.
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90 min: Khazri’s pass towards Van Aarnholt deflects behind for a corner on the left. Is this the moment for Sunderland? Nope. Khazri fails to beat the first man.
87 min: Sanchez drops a shoulder, cuts inside and hammers a low shot towards the bottom-right corner. Mannone pushes it away and the outstanding Kone gets to the rebound before an Arsenal player can pounce.
84 min: Mesut Ozil’s afternoon is over. Please be upstanding for the return of Jack Wilshere, who’s back for the first time since the FA Cup final last season.
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82 min: Welbeck takes aim from 18 yards, selling a couple of Sunderland players a cute dummy, but his shot is straight at Mannone.
80 min: This is frantic stuff now; the weaving Watmore tricks his way into space on the right but the flag goes up for offside against Defoe when he plays the ball into the six-yard box.
79 min: Petr Cech claims a cross and boots the ball up field. Kaboul and Welbeck chase it and Mannone comes hurtling out of his area, only to misjudge the bounce and miss his header! Kaboul then appears to push Welbeck over but nothing’s given! That was pure farce.
78 min: Sunderland make their second change, the tiring Jan Kirchoff replaced by Seb Larsson.
76 min: Elneny is booked for tripping M’Vila, a foul he didn’t need to make as the Sunderland midfielder had overrun the ball.
74 min: The exciting Duncan Watmore, who scored against Norwich last week, replaces Fabio Borini for Sunderland.
71 min: Arsenal make a double change. Theo Walcott replaces Alex Iwobi, who was good, and Danny Welbeck replaces Olivier Giroud, who was not.
70 min: Now it’s Arsenal’s turn to threaten. Iwobi heads the ball back into the danger area from the byline but Kone superbly powers a header away. Arsenal keep pressing and Ramsey wins a corner, but nothing comes from it.
68 min: Defoe peels away from Mertesacker on the right and, with Arsenal’s defence all over the place, he tries to roll it across for Borini, who would have had a tap-in. Yet Koscielny reads Defoe’s intentions brilliantly and diverts the cross behind for a corner. What an escape for Arsenal; Defoe really should have done better. But here’s a corner for the hosts. Khazri’s delivery is wicked and, for some reason, Koscielny ducks under the ball inside the six-yard box. There would have been severe embarrassment if M’Vila had arrived in time to smash the ball home at the far post.
65 min: Sunderland have stirred again and it’s Arsenal who are having to defend now, Defoe denied at the near post after a cutback from Yedlin.
64 min: Sam Allardyce finally removes himself from his seat, thinking that Defoe’s cleverly improvised lob over Cech is going in. But Cech’s not worried. It’s a fine effort from Defoe, who was under pressure from Mertesacker, but it drifts wide.
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63 min: The Arsenal fans are chanting Danny Welbeck’s name after another poor piece of control from Giroud, who hasn’t scored in the league since 13 January.
62 min: Sunderland have lost some of their spark. This is becoming more of a slog now.
60 min: Arsenal counter down the left after a Sunderland attack led by Yedlin breaks down. Giroud wins a corner. It’s cleared as far as Ramsey, who produces an atrocious shot with his left foot.
58 min: Borini is booked for scraping his studs down Iwobi’s achilles. “Watching Allardyce do his slumped seat thing makes me pity anyone unfortunate to have to sit next to him on a long haul flight,” says Ian Copestake.
56 min: Sanchez darts inside from the right and then opens Sunderland up with a clever pass through to Giroud. He gets there before Mannone, who forces him wide, but the Sunderland goalkeeper is out of position when Giroud spins and hoicks the ball towards the far post. Iwobi looks certain to blast a volley into the keeperless Sunderland goal - and instead he produces a comical mishit miles off target! The danger passes when Ramsey’s feeble shot runs through to Mannone.
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55 min: The ball is put out of play so Kirchoff can receive treatment to a hip injury he received from a robust challenge with Giroud. The camera picks out Allardyce in the dugout, arms folded, slumped back in his seat, chewing gum with his mouth open. It’s quite the sight.
53 min: Sunderland contrive to make a spectacular dog’s dinner out of the corner and not for the first time. Khazri’s initial delivery is overhit but retrieved on the right by Kaboul, who promptly lifts the ball back into orbit. Kone does well to stop it going out on the left and gets it back to Khazri, who puts an end to the issue by ballooning a cross behind for a goal-kick.
52 min: The impressive Khazri dribbles inside from the right, uses Van Aarnholt as a decoy and forces Cech to make another save down to his right from 20 yards. Here comes another Sunderland corner. “Having hands that stick out is a function of suspending them on the end of arms,” says Jordan Pickering. “The law is a blunt instrument, and it is necessary to have officials with the ability to use their discretion so that the pedantic application of the law doesn’t become more unjust than the transgression.”
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50 min: Kirchoff lifts a fine ball with the outside of his right foot towards Defoe, who scampers clear of the Arsenal defence on the right before unleashing a trademark rocket on target. Cech beats it away brilliantly and has to react quickly moments later to push an awkward, bouncing shot from M’Vila wide for a corner.
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49 min: Bellerin is booked for going through Khazri on the halfway line.
47 min: Monreal goes down with an anguished cry after a collision with Kirchoff. But the damage doesn’t appear to be lasting and the pair are soon shaking hands.
46 min: Off we go again. Arsenal get the second half underway. “The rule doesn’t provide any exceptions for reaction time or lack of intent (though Mertesacker should know better than to have his hands out like that),” reckons Prateek Chadha. “The defenders hand stopped a goalbound shot. If not for his hand the keeper would have had a save to make. Therefore, it should be a penalty.”
Half-time: Sunderland 0-0 Arsenal
Mike Dean brings an absorbing half to a close. It’s goalless but it’s not been short on incident at either end and both sides could have had a penalty.
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45 min: There will be one more minute.
43 min: A replay shows that the sliding Yedlin probably should have been penalised for handling Iwobi’s shot, so that’s 1-1 in penalty reprieves. “As a neutral, Giroud’s exaggerated exasperation at every ball that does not fall at his feet or meet his exacting requirements makes me support the opposition,” says Ian Copestake. “I will not be surprised to seeing him gesture to the bench that he wants to come off, injured as he is by failed expectations.”
You watch, he’ll prove all the haters and doubters wrong.
42 min: Sunderland have badly lacked composure when they’ve countered. Too many passes towards Defoe have been poorly executed.
41 min: Now Arsenal want a penalty for handball. Giroud brilliantly tees up Iwobi in the Sunderland area but his shot is blocked. He wants a penalty but Mike Dean isn’t having it again.
39 min: Ramsey is retrospectively booked for pulling back Khazri’s shirt a minute or two ago. “As I sit in my little corner of South America I can’t help but think that previous commenter has mis-spoken, the horizontal thumbs-up is very common all across this continent,” says Mark Turner. “It’s probably where it filtered into the British football culture too, what with young whippersnappery types wanting to emulate Kun, Falcao, Funes Mori...Ulloa (?). For Jon Moss, ask Boy George.”
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36 min: After two close shaves, Sunderland finally relieve some pressure, attack and scream in vain for a penalty when Mertesacker handles Defoe’s shot! Borini’s cross towards the far post was inexplicably headed straight to Defoe by Bellerin. The Sunderland striker larrumped a volley goalwards with his left foot and Mertesacker, yards away from him, blocks it with his hand, only for Mike Dean to wave their appeals away. Defoe is furious - Mertesacker’s arms were away from his body, but Dean must have decided that his proximity to Defoe meant that he couldn’t have got out of the way of the ball.
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35 min: From the resulting corner, the ball drops to Iwobi inside the six-yard box, seemingly certain to score. Again, though, Sunderland survive, Iwobi’s effort blocked on the line!
34 min: Sanchez whips a low effort past the wall and towards the bottom-right corner - Borini broke from the wall to present the Chilean with a gap - but Mannone dives to his right to push it away! And when Iwobi looks to slam the rebound into the net, Yedlin heroically blocks it behind for a corner on the left!
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33 min: Elneny falls just outside the D, with Cattermole in close attendance. Cattermole is aggrieved. He’ll be even more unhappy if Sanchez sticks this one in the top corner.
31 min: The ball pings around alarmingly on the edge of the Sunderland area. Ramsey can’t quite bring it under control quickly enough to get a shot away. Ozil does - but Mannone dives to his left smartly to save the German’s deflected pearoller.
29 min: Realising that they need to hound Arsenal in possession, Sunderland chase after the ball in demented fashion in midfield, forcing the visitors further and further back until Ramsey drills a pass out for a throw. “Where does your other reader stand on the more pressing issue of the use by footballers of the horizontal “thumbs-up” to acknowledge an unsuccessful cross, throughball, etc?” says Ian Copestake. “It is used no where else and inspires in me the sort of disdain expressed in the Sopranos for those who hold their gun in the same way.”
26 min: In space on the right, a quick pass from Bellerin would have left Giroud all alone in the Sunderland area. Instead he takes too long before hitting the first man with his eventual cross. The ball deflects back to Sanchez on the edge of the area but he’s legally bumped off the ball. Eventually Ozil wins a corner. Sunderland deal with that comfortably but the ball is starting to come back at them with increasing frequency.
24 min: Monreal escapes down the left, Borini guilty of ball watching, but Giroud can’t turn his low cross in at the near post. It was a very difficult chance.
22 min: Van Aarnholt’s free-kick hits the post! Cech was completely beaten as the left-back curled the ball over the wall and towards the top-left corner, only for his effort to swing a touch too far, clang against the top of the woodwork and go behind for goal-kick. What an effort. Sunderland are so unfortunate not to be ahead.
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21 min: Defoe skips round Koscielny, leaves his leg dangling, invites contact and wins Sunderland a free-kick 25 yards from goal. Where’s Jon Moss?
20 min: Elneny’s harmless shot from 20 yards is easily claimed by Mannone. But it was too easy for Arsenal to play around Sunderland there.
18 min: There are a few shouts from the crowd as Ramsey is allowed too much space on the right. He crosses. Giroud is offside. And relax.
16 min: The volume is increasing; Borini dashes down the right and crosses. Ramsey hooks the ball clear. Sunderland are improving after a nervy start.
14 min: Ramsey is caught dawdling in his own half by Khazri, who pounds towards the retreating Arsenal back four. He aims for the bottom corner, but the ball flicks off Koscielny and bounces wide for a corner on the right. This time, Khazri just sticks it into the mixah. Giroud heads away and Cattermole drives not too far wide from 25 yards.
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13 min: M’Vila sends a shot well wide from 25 yards. “On the Wenger issue, I remember my Charlton-supporting mate moaning about Curbishley towards the end of his time there,” says Michael Collins. “He now wastes hours daydreaming about the return of those days. Be careful Gunners. Be very careful.” Yes, but Arsenal would have to work very hard to mess up the succession process. Why be so scared? Learn from where others have gone wrong and pick the right replacement - the foundations are in place for any future manager to succeed at Arsenal. Are we seriously saying that no one would do a better job with this squad or these resources?
11 min: It’s Sunderland 28%-72% Arsenal. In possession.
9 min: Sanchez scoops a glorious pass over the Sunderland defence for Giroud, whose first touch takes him wide. He manages to get a shot away from a tight angle on the right, but Mannone pushes it behind at the near post. From the corner, Mertesacker nuts a firm header straight at Mannone, who probably would have been helpless if the ball had gone either side of him. “Arsene is like the Queen,” says Ian Copestake. “He has been in his job a long time even though no one really knows what it is he does.”
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7 min: Arsenal are threatening to slice Sunderland open every time they work the ball into the final third. Sanchez almost breaks through on goal, only to be denied by a last-ditch challenge. Sunderland are up for this but they’re living dangerously at the back.
5 min: Sunderland waste another set-piece opportunity. They take the corner short and when it’s lifted into the area belatedly, the cross from Yedlin is too high. “There is an excellent reason for Arsenal to extend Wenger’s contract: Consistency,” says Ryan Rickards. “Yes, it’s dubious whether they’ll win another league title with him, but that doesn’t change if they decide to let him go and bring in somebody new with different preferences and priorities with regards to the team. I’m a fan of Schalke 04 in Germany, and they form a lovely counter example to Arsenal - in the early 2000s, they were a contender for the Bundesliga title, but never quite got there. So they kept hiring and firing coaches with the horrible result of a bloated, overpaid squad and no identity to their play. Additionally, Arsenal, through consistent play and continuous Champions League qualifications are financially healthy, whereas Schalke has approximately 200m debt. Lots of other factors of course, but letting Wenger go hardly seems worth the risk.”
But is there such a thing as too much stability? What’s the end game? Is anyone getting anything out of this any more? It’s a disgrace that they’re not up there with Leicester and Tottenham.
4 min: But this is better from Iwobi. Lovely, intricate football gets him into a shooting position, 20 yards out, and his low drive fizzes inches wide. Mannone looked beaten. This is an open game already. Up the other end, Khazri chests down to Cattermole, who instantly lifts the ball over the top for Defoe. He’s through on goal, Arsenal’s defence all over the place, but Cech claws the ball away from the striker. Yet it comes back at Arsenal, Defoe in space on the left. He wins a corner.
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3 min: Arsenal probe for the first time. Bellerin finds Iwobi on the edge of the area, only for the young forward to fall over. “We hear a lot about fixture congestion and too many matches played in England,” says Shaun Wilkinson. “As a solution, I propose that these two teams don’t play at all - Arsenal are simply assigned 4th place from the beginning, and Sunderland are assigned 17th. This could spare a lot of time and effort to reach the same conclusion that will be reached every year anyway.”
2 min: An early chance for Sunderland to test Arsenal in the air; they’ve got a free-kick midway through the Arsenal half. But Bellerin heads Khazri’s delivery away. Allardyce looks disgusted.
Peep! A toot of Mike Dean’s whistle and off we go, with Sunderland kicking from left to right. They immediately kick the ball out of play. Start as you mean to go on.
The teams are out. We’ll have football soon. “Regarding your thoughts on Wenger—I’ve long thought that Arsene Wenger’s role as a top-flight football manager is the equivalent of David Luiz’s role as a top-flight central defender,” says Stephen Mitchell. “Both Wenger and Luiz are extraordinarily talented, and their respective strengths and weaknesses add a lot of entertainment value to the games they are a part of. You get the feeling that they are both suited for an alternate reality version of football in which the rules are slightly different—a game in which points are distributed on the basis of the technical qualities on display and the time spent in the opposition’s half. I guess what I’m saying is that I think it’s time for Wenger to go...to PSG.”
“I don’t think we should all start being negative about Arsene Wenger,” says Raymond Reardon. “In fact, I would like to ask him around for dinner, ask him in and to sit down. I would then proceed to cook him a lovely 12 year slow roast.”
There aren’t really many convincing reasons for Arsene Wenger’s contract to be extended when it runs out next year, are there? In fact, nothing that’s happened in the past two seasons justifies the new deal he got after they won the FA Cup in 2014, beating Hull City in a manner that didn’t exactly suggest they were about to finally make good on their much hyped potential. It’s almost time, isn’t it.
But what does it all mean? Sunderland are unchanged from the win over Norwich, with the impressive Jan Kirchoff screening their improved defence and Fabio Borini and Wahbi Khazri supporting Jermain Defoe, who has three goals in his past five matches.
Arsenal are also unchanged from the win over West Brom, so the best striker in the world, Olivier Giroud, has another chance to score a big goal in a big game. But who’s that on the bench for the visitors? Why, it’s only Jack Wilshere – the debate ends here, get him in that England squad immediately.
The teams!
Sunderland: Mannone; Yedlin, Kone, Kaboul, Van Aanholt;
Kirchhoff; Borini, Cattermole, M’Vila, Khazri; Defoe. Subs:
Jones, Larsson, Rodwell, N’Doye, Pickford, O’Shea, Watmore.
Arsenal: Cech; Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Ramsey, Elneny; Sanchez, Ozil, Iwobi; Giroud. Subs: Gabriel, Wilshere, Ospina, Walcott, Welbeck, Campbell, Coquelin.
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral)
Hello. In the mini-battle to finish in a glorious 17th place, I make Sunderland the favourites to stay up. They’re 18th now but Sam Allardyce is a survival expert, they’ve got a game in hand on Norwich and two on Newcastle, and their fixtures look the kindest on paper. I’m backing Sunderland. But don’t hold me to that. I must have been convinced they were going down in 2014 and 2015, for instance, and look how that turned out in the end. Norwich still have to play Arsenal and Manchester United and they can’t score or defend, which is unfortunate to say the least, and Newcastle play title-chasing Tottenham on the final day, while Sunderland will be at Watford. If Allardyce gets the better of his old chum Arsene Wenger this afternoon, put everything you own on Sunderland staying up.
But here’s the thing about relegation battles. The thing about relegation battles is that there’s no point making predictions. Newcastle looked done when they slumped to a 3-1 defeat to Southampton two weeks later. They looked done when Sergio Aguero gave Manchester City a 1-0 lead at St James’s Park on Tuesday night. They looked done when they were 2-0 down at Anfield yesterday. Yet they’ve beaten Swansea City 3-0, drawn 1-1 with City and drawn 2-2 with Liverpool thanks to a spectacular second half fightback. Under Rafa Benitez they have momentum. The beauty of sport is that even when you’re absolutely sure about something, you’re can’t be absolutely sure.
Still, Sunderland’s fate is in their own hands. If they win all of their games - unlikely, I know - they survive. And while it will be immensely tough today against an Arsenal side whose attempt to muster something resembling a title challenge has left them fighting for their place in the top four (some things are predictable), Sunderland’s confidence is high after last week’s 3-0 win over Norwich City, they’ve been playing some good stuff in fits and starts, Jermain Defoe is scoring and everyone knows that Sam Allardyce has never been relegated from the Premier League. Then again, the win over Norwich was their first victory since 13 February, which goes to show how much the outlook can change in the space of 90 minutes during the run-in. Back Sunderland? They’ve won one of their past seven matches; you must be mad.
Kick-off: 2.05pm.
