Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with Sunderland at the Stadium of Light makes it one of the most difficult places to play Premier League games. Mikel arteta’s side has lost its first point of the season after 10 wins in a row to begin the campaign. Sunderland, meanwhile, is hoping to take advantage of stoppage time to secure a European position. The roof nearly fell off the stadium when Brian Brobbey scored in the 94th minutes of play with an acrobatic goal. Late goals are a regular occurrence for the Black Cats.
Sunderland has scored three game-changing goals in stoppage-time this season. This is their fifth league-leading goal after 90 minutes, leading the Premier League. Sunderland is also one of only three teams that haven’t conceded a goal in the 90th minute, along with Everton and Aston Villa. Sunderland will never count themselves out of a game, and with Arsenal youth product Daniel Ballard in the middle of everything, why should they?The Northern Irish international filled the stat sheet with a goal, an assist, and a game-saving block off the line to end the game in what is the stuff dreams are made of for a center back. Sunderland are not your average promoted team. They’re battling for a European spot and hoping to be the first newly promoted club to finish in top half of the table since Leeds United’s 2020-21 season. Arsenal’s shots were mostly from low-percentage areas. Despite creating 2.07 xG, the majority of this was from only two shots.
Sunderland was able to dictate the pace for most of the match. Despite Arsenal’s dominance, Sunderland controlled the direction in which the shots were fired. Sunderland paid the price a few time, such as when Trossard scored in the 74th with a rocket shot from outside the box, which Robin Roefs could not save, but for the most part, the shots were without consequence. These are the things that happen in the Premier League. They show the difficulty of winning the league from start to finish. Arsenal is unable to find a new striker with Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus and Gyokeres out injured. On the plus side, Gyokeres will be returning from the international break ready to lead. City The Gunners have a seven-point advantage at the top of league. A City If Liverpool wins, the difference would be only four points. These are both manageable cushion, but City The Premier League title race is now back in full swing with a win.
Merino was an excellent emergency center forward for the Gunners last season. But this game showed how that’s not sustainable. Arsenal can reset before the break, because this could have been worse than just a draw. They did show determination to keep going, but Gyokeres is a player who was brought in to win a title. Sunderland’s return to the Premier League has given them a reason to dream bigger than avoiding relegation.
2025-11-09 01:25:06
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