Arteta proud of personality and courage Arsenal showed in draw against Sunderland | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta has praised his team’s “personality” and “courage” following their 2-2 draw with Sunderland at the Stadium of Light this evening.

Arteta saw his side go 2-1 up after falling behind courtesy of goals from Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard, before conceding a 94th minute equaliser that saw the proceedings end all square in the North East.

“I feel disappointed and frustrated because we wanted the three points. We had to navigate through a tough game, we knew that. We conceded a goal that was not up to our standards,” Arteta said. “But we showed a lot of personality and courage and totally dominated the game.”

“In the last minute we had a massive chance to win which I think we deserved to do, but it didn’t happen.”

Arsenal found themselves one goal down at half time thanks to a well-taken goal from Sunderland’s playoff hero Dan Ballard. On his feelings at half time, Arteta said: “I wasn’t annoyed, we had to adjust certain things. They are here unbeaten for a reason. You have to be very patient in order to earn the right to dominate the game and we did much better in the second half.”

Substitute Bryan Brobbey equalised in the 94th minute with an acrobatic volley that sent the Stadium of Light into raptures. On the equaliser, Arteta said: “It was unsatisfying because I wanted to win and the game was almost there.”

On Sunderland, and their unbeaten record at home: “We knew it was a hard place to come from the beginning. But that is the Premier League, you don’t go anywhere in the Premier League and think you’re going to have a comfortable afternoon. It’s not a coincidence what they are doing and they deserve to be where they are.”

Prior to this evening’s 2-2 draw with Sunderland, Arsenal had only conceded three goals in the Premier League, and were on an eight game run of keeping a clean sheet in all competitions. On this record, which Sunderland put an emphatic end to this evening, Arteta said: “It hurts especially when it costs you points. We know we have to get better. We learn from the past and get better.”

“There was a pain in my tummy [when the clean sheet record went]. I don’t want to concede any goals.”