Arteta disputes Sunderland penalty after Arsenal secure 2-0 victory

Mikel Arteta criticised the decision to award Sunderland a penalty after Arsenal won 2-0 at the Stadium of Light on Saturday. David Raya saved Enzo le Fee's spot kick with the match still goalless, before Bruno Guimaraes and Bukayo Saka scored to secure the visitors' fourth Premier League victory of the season.

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According to BBC Sport's reporting, referee John Brooks awarded the penalty following contact between Arsenal defender Ezri Konsa and Sunderland's Dan Ballard at a corner. The video assistant referee did not overturn the decision. Arteta disputed the call in his post-match interviews, arguing that Ballard had pulled Konsa down rather than been fouled by him.

The Arsenal manager told BBC Match of the Day that the decision could have altered the result and his team's momentum. His interpretation was not universally shared: former England midfielder Karen Carney and former Arsenal defender Martin Keown said Konsa's grappling risked punishment, while former Wales defender Ashley Williams backed Arteta's view that it should not have been a penalty.

Raya pushed Le Fee's effort onto the post, and Arsenal took the lead just over two minutes later. Guimaraes, introduced at half-time, scored in the 58th minute with a shot from outside the penalty area that went in off the underside of the crossbar. Declan Rice supplied the assist, according to the BBC's match record.

Saka added Arsenal's second from the penalty spot in the seventh minute of stoppage time. Sunderland's Reinildo Mandava had been sent off for a second yellow card a minute earlier. The home side finished with 12 attempts to Arsenal's 11, but the visitors registered five shots on target compared with Sunderland's three.

Sunderland manager Regis Le Bris told BBC Match of the Day that his team had been too cautious before half-time but showed more quality in possession after the break. He described the result as frustrating and said the missed opportunities demonstrated the small margins separating the teams at this level.

Arsenal's win extended their sequence of Premier League victories to nine, a run BBC Sport said they had not achieved since 2003-04. They have also kept five clean sheets in six matches across all competitions this season, including each of their three away games.