Neither Sunderland nor Arsenal could make the most of their goalscoring opportunities this afternoon as they were forced to accept a goalless draw at the Stadium of Light.
The Black Cats have moved out of the relegation zone due to a better goal difference than Norwich City, while Arsenal remain fourth, level on points with Manchester City above them.
Both Sunderland and Arsenal had large spells of dominance throughout the game, and both could have been given a penalty in the first half for hand-ball offences, but in the end, they settled for a point.
Arsenal put their opponents' defence under early pressure when Alex Iwobi drilled a low drive from the edge of the area, but his shot dragged wide of the post.
Petr Cech was called upon to prevent Jermain Defoe from hitting back immediately when Lee Cattermole sent a long ball towards the striker, but the Arsenal shot-stopper came off his line and punched clear.
Vito Mannone was the busier of the two keepers in the first half as he was needed to keep out Olivier Giroud's shot at the near post and grab hold of Per Mertesacker's header from the resulting corner.
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At the other end, Wahbi Khazri tried to capitalise on Aaron Ramsey's sloppiness in the middle of the park by stealing possession and unleashing a curling strike, but it deflected wide.
Sunderland's best chance of the first half came via a free kick, which was taken by Patrick van Aanholt, but the defender's attempt clattered off the post.
The visitors began to dominate and Alexis Sanchez came close to opening the scoring four minutes after the half-hour mark when his free kick look destined to nestle into the bottom left corner, but Mannone made a one-handed save.
The main talking point from the first half was that referee Mike Dean denied both Sunderland and Arsenal penalties for hand-balls.
The first of these came for Sunderland, who were given some luck when Hector Bellerin's poor clearance fell straight to Defoe, who hammered a strike from the centre of the box but the ball hit the hand of Mertesacker, who had his arms up while trying to defend the shot.
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A few minutes later, Arsenal were denied a similar appeal when Iwobi's shot from the edge of the box hit DeAndre Yedlin's hand, which was raised while the defender dived to the floor in an attempt to block the strike.
After the break, both teams displayed attacking intent, but it was Cech who felt the pressure in the early stages of the second half as he was forced into a double save.
The former Chelsea man denied Defoe's half-volley from the edge of the area and then scrambled across his goal to punch clear Yann M'Vila's follow-up.
A couple of minutes later, Cech was called on again to prevent Khazri's low drilled effort from smashing into the bottom corner of the net.
At the other end, Arsenal put Sunderland under pressure when the ball was played into Giroud's path. The Frenchman did well to draw Mannone off his line before playing the ball back across the six-yard box for Iwobi, who had an open net to aim at but ended up mishitting his shot.
As the half continued, Sunderland began to dominate, sensing that Arsenal were there for the taking, and Defoe came close when he was played in behind with a pass from Cattermole, but the striker's attempt to lift the ball over the top of Cech bounced wide.
The Black Cats kept knocking on the door and Lamine Kone missed an opportunity to score when the ball was whipped in from the corner flag, and despite it dropping in the centre of the six-yard box, the defender could not get there in time for a tap-in.
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Mannone was almost left red faced when he raced off his line to head the ball away. He made a hash of his clearance and the ball dropped to Danny Welbeck, who failed to make the most of it while under pressure from Younes Kaboul.
Seconds later, Duncan Watmore showed quick feet on the edge of the box before sending a cross in, but Cech palmed the ball away before it could reach Defoe.
More chances came at both ends, but the deadlock at the Stadium of Light could not be broken.
Danielle Joynson
