Sunderland end season with Arsenal loss

5:00pm Sunday 11th May 2008

IMAGINE what it could have been like. Instead, with no such worries of relegation hanging over Sunderland or any chance of Arsenal winning the Premier League, this was as relaxed as last day fixtures come.

Even after the Gunners took a first half lead through the predatory instincts of Theo Walcott, the Wearside faithful that had turned out in force at the Stadium of Light remained in jovial spirits.

A sell-out crowd may not have witnessed a surprise victory over one of the top four yesterday but there was a satisfaction within the 49,500-capacity venue.

And with Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool all pencilled in for dates again next season, who can blame them. Yesterday was an occasion for celebration, even if there was no trophy or lap of honour insight.

Now, though, the real work starts. Having had to wait until the third last match of the season to be assured of top-flight status for another 12 months, manager Roy Keane is determined to make sure no such situation arises in May 2009.

Keane was eager for his team to end on a high and, despite a narrow defeat to the Gunners, there was a much improved showing to that which succumbed cheaply at Bolton eight days earlier.

But with fans dancing the Conga, attempting Mexican Waves and chanting for Manchester United's Jonny Evans to sign a permanent deal, there was no such frustration being felt yesterday.

In fact, with Keane very rarely emerging from his dug-out, the Irishman must have spent the majority of the 90 minutes thinking about improvements for next season.

Talks are planned for this week with chairman Niall Quinn and he is intent on making a number of alterations. It is difficult, though, to imagine any of the players who started - with the exception of Evans - leaving this summer.

Arsenal, who themselves had little to play for other than pride and reputation, were given a tough ride and were fortunate to have emerged with all three points.

It is a mark of the inexperience within the Arsenal squad that, having spent the majority of the campaign at the top of the Premier League, they had to settle for third.

Such a fall from grace was largely down to a disappointing March, when four straight league draws was followed by a defeat at Chelsea.

And having already been knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester United and Tottenham in the Carling Cup, one of the most promising squads in the world ended up with nothing this season.

There will inevitably be changes during the summer, with Mathieu Flamini on his way to AC Milan, while Inter Milan and Real Madrid are eyeing up Alexander Hleb and Cesc Fabregas respectively.

But yesterday was an indication that there are further fresh-faced talents on their way through at the Emirates Stadium.

While the likes of Denilson and Theo Walcott were given further starting berths against Sunderland, the bench was made up of an array of highly-rated young men eager to make an impression at the highest level.

The names of Armand Traore, Havard Nordtveit, Mark Randall, Vito Mannone and Nacer Barazite remain largely unheard of, although there is a belief that all five have the ability to step up to the Arsenal first team on a regular basis.

And it was one of the successful graduates of Wenger's Academy that forced Marton Fulop into an early stop. Fulop, handed his first start of the season with rested Craig Gordon on the bench, gathered well when Emmanuel Eboue's marauding run and cross opened up the home defence.

Fulop also offered a further indication of his worth moments later. He emerged from his line quickly to deny lethal striker Emanuel Adebayor from close range.

Sunderland can also be proud of their youth ranks, although Keane resisted the temptation to throw any of the Sunderland youth team - who reached the semi-finals of the FA Youth Cup and won their FA Academy group - into his match-day squad.

It must have been tempting. After all, in the aftermath of the previous weekend's defeat to Bolton, the Irishman warned that he had lost patience with a number of his players.

With that in mind it was telling that Kieran Richardson was the biggest casualty of the defeat. The £5.5m winger was left out all together, with his place on the left going to Ross Wallace.

Wallace had not figured since being transfer-listed in the wake of the defeat to Blackburn in early January, having suffered a serious knee ligament injury a few days after.

And one of his first contributions was to win a free-kick 20 yards out for Grant Leadbitter - the only player in a red and white shirt on show to have progressed from the Sunderland Academy - to curl over.

Much of the opening half was spent playing a game of keep ball, with Sunderland doing their best to keep possession for longer than their opponents.

But while a breakthrough looked unlikely, there was always the danger that Arsenal would find the perfect pass that would create an opportunity to score.

And, after Walcott turned on the edge of the box before forcing a low save from Fulop, the young England forward made sure he was the one satisfied seconds later.

An exceptional Gilberto Silva slide-rule pass between Danny Collins and Evans led to Walcott racing through and, with just Fulop to beat, he placed his low finish into the Hungarian's bottom left 24 minutes in.

But Arsenal's opener did little to dampen the spirits in the stands and that brought a positive response from the Sunderland players.

Had Leadbitter headed down instead of over from a decent Wallace centre ten minutes before half-time the score would have been level.

Even after the restart Sunderland had the chances to equalise. Roy O'Donovan, a replacement for Kenwyne Jones who went off after blocking a Phillipe Senderos shot with his hands, missed two very good opportunities.

With the exception of a wayward drive from Gilberto from eight yards - after Adebayor's short, indirect free-kick following Dean Whitehead's back pass to Fulop - the visitors failed to trouble the Sunderland goalkeeper.

Arsenal went close through young winger Randall, while O'Donovan forced an injury-time save from Lukasz Fabianski. But Arsenal's last-day win was achieved. Keane's Sunderland , however, have further proof that things are being done right on Wearside.

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