Sunderland contains Arsenal at home with a draw

In a high-stakes Premier League clash at the Stadium of Light, newly promoted Sunderland stunned league leaders Arsenal to a 2-2 draw, thus ending Arsenal’s ten-game winning run in all competitions.

Sunderland drew first blood in the 36th minute through Dan Ballard, a former Arsenal academy product. Ballard latched onto a flicked down ball from Nordi Mukiele and hit a powerful finish past David Raya.

That goal ended Arsenal’s streak of eight consecutive clean sheets across competitions.

After half-time, Arsenal shifted momentum. In the 54th minute, Bukayo Saka exploited a turnover by Sunderland’s Enzo Le Fée, receiving a pass from Mikel Merino and drilling a right-footed finish into the net.

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With the momentum growing, Arsenal increased their dominance when in the 74th minute, Leandro Trossard curled a superb strike from outside the box into the top-corner to give the visitors a 2-1 lead.

At this point, it looked like Arsenal had recovered fully — asserting control, dictating play, and seemingly heading for a comfortable three points.

But football seldom gives the expected outcome. Enter Brian Brobbey, introduced by Sunderland manager Régis Le Bris around the hour mark. In the 94th minute, Brobbey out-muscled Arsenal’s Gabriel Magalhães and poked in a flick-on from Ballard over Raya — sending the home crowd into raptures.

Immediately after, Ballard made a goal-line block to deny Arsenal what would have been a winning goal in the last action of the match.

Victory would have lifted newly promoted Sunderland into second, but thunderous finishes from Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard turned the game around for Mikel Arteta’s men in the second half.

They could not close out a vital three points, however, as Brobbey outmuscled the normally imperious Gabriel Magalhaes to hook in Ballard’s flick on.