Arsenal 0-0 Sunderland

This was an important match in Arsenal's season but they failed to get the win and ended up drawing 0-0 against a Sunderland side they should really be beating at this crucial stage of the season. Arsenal dominated the whole match and had many easy chances to clinch the much needed victory. There were also two referring decisions that clearly went against Arsenal. Andrey Arshavin was pushed in the box and this warranted a penalty. Not much later he scored a legitimate goal that was wrongly called as offside. Wenger was disgusted with these decisions, but his own players should also take the blame as they wasted a variety of easy chances as well. Luckily for the Arsenal it has turned out to be a very valuable point, as United have now lost two games in a row. We are now just 3 points behind with a game in hand, this is a very strong position to be in this late in the season.

Laurent Koscielny and Wojciech Szczesny returned to the starting line up after their Carling Cup final disappointment. In the absence of Fabregas, Wilshere was played further forward and Nasri played from the right hand side. Arsenal started the game fairly well, but most of their attacks came on the counter attack. This was a problem for the Arsenal especially when we were lacking the pace of Theo and the creative influence of Cesc. Nicklas Bendtner was inches away from scoring when Gael Clichy put a good cross into the penalty area. Later on in the 35th minute Samir Nasri nearly scored a superb solo goal as he drifted through the defence into the 6 yard box. It was a difficult finish from a tight angle and even Nasri was going to struggle to score from there.

Chamakh hitting the crossbar. 

The second half began with Arsenal once again dominating possession but struggling to create any chances. As a result of this Wenger replaced the poor Denilson with Chamakh in a very attacking move. The Moroccan nearly made an instant impact when he broke through the Sunderland defence providing Arshavin with a chance he really should have scored. Not long after Andrey Arshavin nearly scored again but as he struck the ball he was pushed by Titus Bramble and as a result his shot went wide. It could have easily been a penalty but in all honesty was a tricky decision for the referee. This is because he was nowhere near the incident and couldn't keep up with play at all. How was he supposed to see if it was a penalty when he was nowhere near the ball at the time? Soon after this Andrey Arshavin was once again the victim of a poor decision. He scored a brilliant goal but it was wrongly ruled offside. The replays showed he was marginally onside, and this just added to Wenger's frustrations.

Bendtner's day summed up.

 All in all this was a disappointing afternoon for the Arsenal but it was still a valuable point especially after United lost to Liverpool today. Arsenal can't just blame the poor referring decisions as they still had chances to win the game themselves. The two decisions were however inexcusable, but Nicklas Bendtner's miss at the end was also inexcusable. We are now only 3 points behind United with a game in hand and are well and truly in the title race. The team must now regroup for an incredibly important game against Barcelona on Tuesday. We are expected to lose the game due to the amount of injuries but Barcelona will also be without their two first choice centre halves.