As the final whistle blew Bruno Guimarães wore a mischievous smile, Enzo Le Fée was a study in dejection and Arsenal’s immaculate start to the season remained unblemished. Two minutes after David Raya had, rather majestically, saved Le Fée’s second half penalty, Guimarães delighted both his new north London public and plenty of old friends in Newcastle by sending a shot curving past Robin Roefs. Yet no one should be deceived by the emphasis lent to the scoreline by Bukayo Saka’s stoppage-time penalty and Reinildo’s sending-off, this was the toughest of tests for Mikel Arteta’s team.
If Sunderland can keep playing like this, Régis Le Bris’s players will surely enjoy more good days than bad. That penalty miss aside, chapeaux off to Le Fée, who has deservedly made Zinedine Zidane’s provisional France squad for the forthcoming Nations League matches. Sunderland’s attacking playmaker knew another good performance here could only enhance his chances of moving from longlist to shortlist and he did not take long to draw a foul and win a dangerous free-kick.
Arsenal’s former captain Granit Xhaka delighted in curling the meanest of dead balls in Dan Ballard’s direction but the home central defender, a one-time Gunners youth captain, could not quite connect. There had been a similar reprieve for Le Bris’s rearguard when Saka failed to make the most of Declan Rice’s fine early delivery following more stellar work from Christos Tzolis. Yet, bar a Gabriel Magalhães shot from distance that whizzed just wide of Roefs’s goal, a Kai Havertz shot on the turn saved smartly and a low 20-yard effort that Le Fée dragged fractionally wide of an upright, that was pretty much it in terms of first-half goalmouth action.
Arteta’s side were taking their time to establish a settled passing rhythm. If Sunderland’s superb organisation hardly assisted the visiting cause, Arsenal looked a little fazed whenever the excellent Nordi Mukiele – surely another candidate for the France squad – advanced from right-back. Ezri Konsa, meanwhile, did not appear to be either relishing or winning his extremely physical contest with Le Bris’s ever combative centre-forward, Brian Brobbey.
If a packed Stadium of Light enjoyed that little subplot, the roof was nearly lifted off by the roar of approval that greeted Reinildo’s full blooded early challenge on Martin Ødegaard. One constant was Arteta’s excursions outside his technical area and eventually the referee, John Brooks, responded by jogging over to the touchline and waving a yellow card in the Arsenal manager’s face. While that booking was hardly unmerited, it seemed a shame that Brooks was turning a blind eye to some persistent shirt pulling from both sides at corners.
With the match even at the interval, Arteta replaced Myles Lewis-Skelly and the hobbling Ben White with Bruno Guimarães and Jurriën Timber. The Brazilian’s past as Newcastle’s captain ensured Guimaraes’s every touch was booed, while Sunderland started the new half strongly with Brobbey continuing to bully Konsa. A penalty-area encounter with Ballard at a throw proved no more welcome and when Konsa grappled the defender to the ground, Brooks had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
