Disjointed match provides sickening finale.

Cesc Fabregas' block on Anton Ferdinand's clearance gave us a perfect, albeit fortuitous, start but Darren Bent's last minute equaliser meant it was a hugely frustrating Saturday for Arsenal supporters.

On paper, a point at Sunderland in a match which Robin van Persie, Thomas Vermaelen and Theo Walcott missed through injury is not a bad result. On top of our injury problems before the match Cesc Fabregas was forced off mid-way through the first half with a hamstring problem and Alexandre Song's dismissal early in the second half put our team under further strain. When all of these factors are taken into consideration a draw appears to be a good result.

When you also consider that we were dreadful in possession, unable to create any genuine chances in open play and missed a penalty, a point away to Sunderland appears to be a very good result.

However, when you have the lead for 82 minutes of a 95 minute match, a draw is a gut wrenching result. The sort that makes you question why you care so much about something that seems to very rarely give you anything back. Yet, the fact that Sunderland scored with the very last kick of the match is the only reason why yesterday's result was so disappointing. So, with perspective, the outcome from yesterday's match won't be as damaging as it appeared to be at the time.

The more worrying aspect of proceedings at the Stadium of Light, was our poor performance and recurrence of costly errors. Alex Song's stupidity while on a yellow card displayed the immaturity that Jack Wilshere lacked having also picked up a booking in the first half. While Song continued to make clumsy challenges, Wilshere avoided any trouble whilst impressively maintaining his work rate for the whole match. Song's dismissal didn't seem to adversely affect our performance but inevitably increased fatigue levels throughout the team. More costly mistakes followed.

Firstly, after Samir Nasri's determined run drew a foul in the penalty area, Tomas Rosicky blasted the penalty over the bar. It was out of keeping with Rosicky's performance after replacing Fabregas, as he and Nasri combined very well, particularly after the sending off.

Then, Denilson broke in the closing stages and instead of attempting to run down time he blasted a long range effort just past the post. Had he turned and maintained possession, we would have been able to run down the remaining seconds. Instead, Sunderland had one last chance to attack. They forced a corner which was only half cleared and Gael Clichy and the previously impressive Laurent Koscielny were caught napping as they were slow to push up, which played three or four Sunderland players onside when the ball was played back in. It eventually fell to Clichy but he panicked and could only swipe his clearance into Koscielny who deflected the ball into Darren Bent's path. Clichy's habit of trying hard but making critical errors is becoming a real worry. 

Wenger can bemoan the poor refereeing or the fact the goal was scored a few seconds beyond the alloted injury time but we only have ourselves to blame for not winning the match. The poor quality of our passing in the first half was particularly shocking when contrasted with our performance in the Champions League. There was no lack of commitment and our closing down in the opening stages was impressive but stupid mistakes continue to blight our chances.

Photo: Action Images

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