Arsenal 'hold meeting' as Sunderland accused of putting Gunners stars in danger

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Richard Keys has claimed that Arsenal will 'hold a meeting' on Monday after Sunderland moved their advertising hoardings during their match at the weekend, with the broadcaster claiming such a move put the Gunners' players at risk.

The Premier League leaders were held to a dramatic 2-2 draw at the Stadium of Light on Saturday evening, with the initially taking the lead through former Arsenal defender Dan Ballard. Bukayo Saka equalised for Arsenal before Leandro Trossard turned the game on its head with a stunning effort, only for Brian Brobbey to pop up in the final seconds with an acrobatic effort.

Sunderland had employed an intriguing tactic for the game, sneakily moving the advertising hoardings closer to the pitch to alleviate the threat of Arsenal’s long throw-ins. And according to broadcaster Keys, Arsenal will discuss that tactic after he highlighted that such a move could have endangered the safety of some 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 boss Regis Le Bris has already discussed the tactic and claimed that it was intentional in an attempt to secure a positive result. He said: “Yeah, we tried to find the details to win the game.

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‘“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 top of the Premier League , albeit their advantage has been worn down to four points after Manchester City’s 3-0 victory against Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium. Meanwhile, Sunderland’s stunning start to the campaign sees them sitting fourth in the table with 19 points from their opening 11 games of the season.

Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle ahead of the 2025/26 season, saving members £192 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.