‘Pain in my tummy’ – Mikel Arteta reacts after Arsenal lose clean sheet record at Sunderland | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta said he felt ‘pain in my tummy’ after Arsenal’s club-record run of eight clean sheets ended at Sunderland on Saturday. 

The Gunners came into the away fixture on the back of five successive Premier League victories. 

However, they were stunned by Dan Ballard, who opened the scoring inside the first ten minutes with an excellent finish. 

Arteta voiced his frustration after the game (per the Guardian): “I felt a pain in my tummy. I don’t want to concede any goals. It was a goal and put the game in a difficult position.”

Arsenal pushed hard for an equaliser after the interval, and their efforts were rewarded in the 54th minute as Bukayo Saka scored with a precise finish. 

Leandro Trossard appeared to have decided the fate of the contest, as he scored with a spectacular shot from outside the penalty area after 74 minutes.  

However, Brian Brobbey bagged a stoppage-time leveller to secure a point for Sunderland.

“It’s not a nice feeling,” Arteta added. “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.”

Arsenal have missed out on the Premier League title in the last three seasons. They have an excellent opportunity to end their league trophy drought this term. 

They were on a 10-game winning run in all competitions ahead of Saturday’s visit to Sunderland. But their impressive run ended at the Stadium of Light. 

Arsenal are still six points clear at the top, but Manchester City can reduce their lead by beating Liverpool on Sunday.