Sunderland 2-2 Arsenal: WOW! What a point! James Copley and Phil Smith react at the Stadium of Light
Sunderland scored a late equaliser to secure a 2-2 draw with Arsenal at the Stadium of Light
It can't go on like this, can it?
These late goals, this rush of adrenaline. The feeling that this team is never beaten that so often proving to be the case. Goals that feel like they should be generational moments but are happening so often they're almost becoming a bit of a blur. Well, put on your best Mick McCarthy accent and stare down the barrel of the nearest camera because apparently, it can.
Brian Brobbey scoring his first Sunderland goal in the 94th minute by beating two of the best centre backs in Europe before scoring a thumping volley on the spin should feel truly remarkable. Following Sunderland in 2025, though? This is just what happens. It's just what they do.
Hours after the final whistle and long into the night, Sunderland is still buzzing. The adrenaline is still coursing and eyes a little glazed, people are shaking their heads and almost giggling in disbelief. Is this real? Start talking about who impressed you the most and realise a few minutes later you've had to go through the entire team, including the subs. Try and talk about something else but circle back to the football because every last drop has to be wrung out of this feeling. Remember what it was like sitting here after a defeat in League One and think, was that really only a few years ago? It can't have been, can it? Over to you again, Mick.
Perhaps this all seems a little much for what was ultimately a 2-2 draw but this isn't about the result. It's not even about Sunderland being fourth (fourth!) in the Premier League, not really. It's about a club, no a city, that has found its voice again. Football is only part of that story but it's one of the most important chapters, Brobbey's acrobatics another glorious plot twist. The striker, who has three major honours at one of Europe's biggest clubs to his name, will later say that he has never in football experienced a noise like the one that rang in his ears as he roared by the corner flag in celebration.
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It's not easy to describe this mood and this feeling other than to say that on matchday, it's unmistakable. You felt it week after week in the early 2000s, the crackle of anticipation and excitement at watching the very best in football come to Wearside. The magic extra layer, though, was in knowing that Sunderland had a side who would give them an almighty battle. They might win, might lose, might draw - but they wouldn't take a backwards step. There have been moments since, little pockets of time where it felt like the good times were on their way back. When Niall Quinn almost hauled the entire thing back to where it belonged on those broad shoulders, with a little help from Roy Keane. Flickers in Gus Poyet's Great Escape, sure. Go back and listen to that rendition of Wise Men Say just before Granit Xhaka takes kick off, though. There is pride, anticipation, and there is belief. That's the sound of the Sunderland we always knew was there, just waiting for the team that would bring it back. It’s the sound of a city and a club you can’t talk down, anymore. It's the sound of Sunderland: regenerated. On the pitch, off the pitch, around the ground. Many outside the city might have been slow to notice, but they can't ignore it any longer. Sunderland is back on the map and if you thought it might not last, that it was a flash in the pan owing to a generous turn from the fixture computer, you know better now.
This isn't a perfect team, not by a long shot. There are times when they struggle to hold the ball and going forward it's fair to say it is not always easy on the eye. In fairness, on this occasion that said as much about an Arsenal's side whose aggression and discipline out of possession has to be seen and felt to be fully appreciated. Régis Le Bris sits in his post-match press conference and puffs out his cheeks as he recalls that spell in the second half where Arsenal had taken control. They move the ball quickly and pin you back. Bukayo Saka draws one, two, three players to him but still keeps it. You win it back and they press you straight away, cutting out your passing lanes. You can go long but there's every chance it's swept straight up by one Europe's most dominant defences. They force errors you wouldn’t normally make and from there they are ruthless.
But Le Bris also talks with a visiting French reporter about this almost intangible quality the Stadium of Light now has. The belief, the resilience and the passion that can, as Le Bris puts, disturb the dynamic of a game. It only takes a good ball in behind, a tackle, a well-executed press. The momentum can shift quickly and decisively. So Sunderland find a way to edge up the pitch, to push Arsenal back a little, to build and build a little more. Arsenal might feel stung but a smash and grab, it's not.
Le Bris explains how he was surprised when he arrived, to find players who will give their life to defend their box. He's talking, of course, about the moment Brobbey's goal almost came to count for nothing as Mikel Merino pounced on a loose ball in the box. And yet there was Ballard, crashing into one last challenge. Le Bris did not impose his own philosophy on this team but instead allowed something more organic to build. Sunderland planned meticulously for their Premier League return and they've built a team that suits the division as it is now, for better or for worse. Physical, aggressive, athletic, strong in the air. What Le Bris has also done is let a team develop that is in lockstep with its crowd: Energetic, resilient, defiant. That they can play a bit is an added bonus.
You can scoff if you like but when you're here, in moments like these at the Stadium of Light, you feel it and you know it. It's a little bit of magic and it's unmistakably back.
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