Arsenal 'to hold meeting' after Sunderland's 'dangerous' tactic in Premier League draw

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Arsenal were held to a 2-2 draw by Sunderland in the Premier League on Saturday evening, with the Black Cats employing a unique tactic to try and stop the Gunners

Richard Keys has suggested Arsenal will convene discussions on Monday following Sunderland's controversial decision to reposition their advertising hoardings during Saturday's fixture, with the former Sky Sports presenter expressing safety concerns over the Premier League side's tactical ploy.

The Gunners were forced to settle for a thrilling 2-2 stalemate at the Stadium of Light on Saturday evening, with former Gunners centre-back Dan Ballard opening the scoring for the hosts. Bukayo Saka restored parity for Arsenal before Leandro Trossard's spectacular strike appeared to have secured all three points, only for Brian Brobbey to salvage a dramatic late equaliser with an acrobatic finish.

The Black Cats had implemented a curious strategy for the encounter, discreetly repositioning the advertising boards closer to the playing surface in an apparent attempt to neutralise Arsenal's aerial threat from long throw-ins. Keys has now claimed the North London club will address this tactic, having raised concerns that such modifications could potentially compromise player welfare.

Speaking on beIN Sports, he said: "Sunderland did not commit an offence of any kind. What they did was moved the hoardings in with the idea being stop Arsenal using long throws.

"It's very clear the purpose of having done that, as long as there's a metre between the touchline and the hoarding. But in a time where we've recently had a fatality because of the proximity of a concrete wall, and I know it's entirely different, I just looked at that yesterday and it looked a bit close for me.

"That might be endangering the wellbeing of those on the football pitch. I know there's a meeting at Arsenal tomorrow to discuss.

"No rules have been broken, Sunderland are well within their rights, but I'm not sure. On the one hand it's very smart, it's a talking point and it did go unnoticed by Arsenal and it was a subject of conversation after they'd left the ground yesterday so we'll wait for developments on that."

Sunderland manager Regis Le Bris has already addressed the approach and confirmed it was deliberate in a bid to secure a favourable result. He said: "Yeah, we tried to find the details to win the game.

"They are really strong on set-pieces, we were good as well. It was absolutely obvious this threat was really important for this game and in the end it was balanced."

Saturday's stalemate has left Arsenal at the Premier League summit, though their lead has been reduced to four points following Manchester City's 3-0 triumph against Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium. Meanwhile, Sunderland's impressive beginning to the season sees them occupying fourth place in the standings with 19 points from their first 11 fixtures of the campaign.