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
Mikel Arteta
Arsenal are set to hold a meeting about Sunderland's tactics(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA, Getty Images)
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Richard Keys has suggested Arsenal will "hold a meeting" on Monday following Sunderland's decision to reposition their advertising hoardings during Saturday's fixture, with the broadcaster expressing concern that the move potentially 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, with ex-Arsenal defender Dan Ballard opening the scoring for the hosts.
Bukayo Saka restored parity for Arsenal before Leandro Trossard's spectacular strike appeared to have secured victory, only for Brian Brobbey to snatch a dramatic late equaliser with an acrobatic finish.
The Black Cats had deployed a curious tactical approach for the match, discreetly shifting the advertising boards nearer to the playing surface in an attempt to neutralise Arsenal's long throw-in threat.
According to Keys, the Gunners will address this strategy, as he emphasised the potential safety implications for their squad.
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," reports the Mirror.
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"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."
Black Cats manager Regis Le Bris has already addressed the tactic and confirmed it was deliberate as part of their strategy to gain an advantage. 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 the Gunners sitting top of the Premier League table, though their cushion has been reduced to four points following Manchester City's commanding 3-0 win over Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium.
Meanwhile, Sunderland's impressive opening to the season sees them occupying fourth spot with 19 points from their first 11 matches of the campaign.
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