Unlucky Arsenal settle for goalless draw

Resham Ahmed March 6, 2011 0

Unlucky Arsenal settle for goalless draw

LONDON: The Arsenal title hopes dented badly by the Black Cats as they failed to score a goal and had to settle for a draw after referees also played their part in favour of Sunderland in front of over 60,000 fans at Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening.

Samir Nasri tries to keep the possession. Courtesy:GETTY IMAGES

The second string Gunners side led by Samir Nasri tried their level best to score the decisive goal but their efforts were denied by Sunderland goalkeeper Man of the Match Simon Mignolet. Arsenal had an exceptional last 15 minutes of the match when they almost scored twice but at one occasion their penalty was denied by the referee and on the second occasion, Arsenal forward wrongly declared offside but the replays clearly showed him onside.

With the goalless draw, Arsenal only managed to grab one point after 28 matches and now three points behind chart leaders Manchester United who will play their 29^th match today in English Premier League against Liverpool.

Frustratd Djourou stumbles in net. Courtesy: REUTERS

Arsene Wenger was disappointed with the result and said, “It is another disappointment. I am very happy with the performance, defensively we were very good and gave a lot physically, and I cannot fault the players’ attitude. True, we lacked a bit of creativity and sharpness in final third, but had two decisions going against us today which punish us severely, especially the offside, which is not offside. To win this game 1-0 today was important.”

Arsene Wenger reacts during the match. Courtesy: AP PHOTO

Steve Bruce was happy with his team performance and said, “We have got that resilience back a little bit. That is what we lost over the last two or three weeks. The reason we have had a good season is our ability to keep a clean sheet and hit people on the break. It was a bit hairy at times, especially in the last 15 minutes but our goalkeeper played well.”

In another match, Manchester City defeated Wigan Athletic by 1-0 as Silva scored the decisive goal for the City in the 38^th minute of the match. Manchester City had maintained their third position on the points table with 53 points from 29 EPL matches.