Sunderland last-gasp draw frustrates Arsenal manager Arteta as he feels ‘pain in tummy’ at end of clean sheet run.
Arteta frustrated and disappointed by Arsenal’s inability to see off Sunderland.
Mikel Arteta expressed his “disappointment and frustration” after Sunderland’s goal in injury time at the Stadium of Light prevented Arsenal from winning. Brian Brobbey, a substitute, scored in the 94th minute to give the home team, who are currently fourth in the standings, a point.
“It’s not a nice feeling,” said Arteta. “It’s disappointment and frustration, because we wanted the three points. We had to navigate through a tough game. We knew that. [They were] very disruptive. We had to deal with situations that were obviously difficult to deal with.”
after asked how he felt after Arsenal’s club-record run of eight clean sheets ended, Arteta responded, “A pain in my tummy, because I don’t want to concede any goals.” Dan Ballard, a former member of the Arsenal youth, had opened the score during a first half that had appeared to unnerve the visitors. Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard’s goals gave his team the advantage after the break.
“You have to rely on defending the box when they start to commit six, seven players there. It can be from a direct play, it can be from a throw, or it can be from any situation. We can defend the action better. And today we haven’t done it, we have conceded a goal.”
Even after Brobbey’s equaliser, Ballard had to block a Mikel Merino shot. Arteta said: “In the last minute, we had another massive chance to win, which I think we deserved.”