Raya penalty save helps Arsenal beat Sunderland for ninth straight league win

Arsenal beat Sunderland 2-0 at the Stadium of Light to record a ninth consecutive Premier League victory, with David Raya's penalty save setting up a decisive change in the match. According to BBC Sport's report from the ground, substitute Bruno Guimaraes opened the scoring just over two minutes after Raya denied Enzo le Fee from the spot.

Watch the highlights:

The penalty came after nearly an hour, when referee John Brooks penalised Ezri Konsa following a tussle with Dan Ballard at a corner. VAR upheld the on-field decision. Le Fee's attempt was pushed against the post by Raya, keeping the score level at a stage when Sunderland were putting the defending champions under pressure. BBC Sport reported that it was Raya's second Premier League penalty save.

Guimaraes then curled a shot from the edge of the area against the underside of the crossbar and in. The midfielder told TNT Sports that Raya's intervention had given Arsenal confidence to attack. His contribution followed a difficult opening to his Arsenal career: BBC Sport reported that, after joining from Newcastle in the summer, he had not started a match since the Community Shield and had recovered from a minor hamstring injury.

Despite the result, Mikel Arteta strongly challenged the penalty decision in his post-match comments. Speaking to BBC Match of the Day, the Arsenal manager argued that Ballard had pulled Konsa down and that the available camera angles should have prevented the award. Arteta, who had been booked in the first half for repeatedly leaving his technical area, also raised his objections during his media conference.

The incident produced differing assessments among former players. Karen Carney and Martin Keown, speaking on TNT Sports, pointed to the instruction for referees to act against grappling at corners and the risk Konsa took. Ashley Williams disagreed on BBC Match of the Day, arguing that Ballard's action had brought the defender down. Those contrasting views underlined the dispute over the contact rather than any change to the decision.

Arsenal's defensive record extended beyond Raya's save. They have kept five clean sheets in six matches across all competitions this season, including all three away fixtures. BBC Sport noted that the club had not won nine successive Premier League games since 2003-04. Arteta praised his players for managing difficult spells at Sunderland as they maintained their winning league run.