Richard Keys has claimed that Arsenal will 'hold a meeting' on Monday following Sunderland's decision to move their advertising hoardings during Saturday's fixture, with the broadcaster expressing concern that such action could have endangered the Gunners' players. The league leaders were forced to settle for a thrilling 2-2 draw at the Stadium of Light on Saturday evening, after former Arsenal centre-back Dan Ballard opened the scoring for the hosts. Bukayo Saka restored parity for Arsenal before Leandro Trossard appeared to have secured victory with a magnificent strike, only for Brian Brobbey to rescue a point with an acrobatic late equaliser.
Sunderland had implemented a clever tactical ploy for the encounter, discreetly moving the advertising boards closer to the playing surface to neutralise the danger posed by Arsenal's long throw-ins. According to Keys, Arsenal are set to address this strategy, as he emphasised that such modifications could have endangered the safety of their players.
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 tactic, admitting it was a deliberate strategy to secure a favourable outcome.
He stated: "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 draw has left Arsenal leading the Premier League, although their lead has been reduced to four points following Manchester City's victory over Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium.
Meanwhile, Sunderland's impressive start to the season sees them currently fourth in the table with 19 points from their first 11 matches.