After Manchester United were beaten by Chelsea in midweek,
victory for Arsenal would have put their title destiny in their own hands but
they mustered few clear chances despite dominating possession and had to share
the points with Sunderland for the second time this season.
With 10 games remaining Manchester United, who play
Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, lead the way with 60 points, three ahead of
Arsenal, who they still have to play at the Emirates in May.
Chelsea visits Blackpool on Monday. Tottenham Hotspur are
fifth on 47 ahead of their game at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday.
Wenger was annoyed by two decisions that did not go his
side's way, describing them as "absolutely disappointing and unacceptable.
"We have to take it on the chin and continue to
fight," he told Sky Sports. "The players gave a lot today, Sunderland
defended very hard, they gave absolutely everything and we needed to be patient.
"Unfortunately I've seen some things that are difficult
to take but that's part of the game." Birmingham City, who upset Arsenal
to win the League Cup at Wembley six days ago, came down to earth with a bump
when they went down 3-1 at home to relegation rivals West Bromwich Albion and
dropped into the bottom three.
West Ham United edged out of the drop zone with a 3-0 home
win over Stoke City. Fulham beat Blackburn Rovers 3-2 thanks to a controversial
late Bobby Zamora penalty and Ivan Klasnic also scored two minutes from time as
Bolton Wanderers beat Aston Villa 3-2 to move above Liverpool into sixth place.
Everton beat Newcastle United 2-1 for their first league win
at St James' Park in 11 years.
Sunderland's barren spell at Arsenal is more than double
that, their last league win there coming in 1983, but they will be delighted to
have gone home with a point.
They had drawn with Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool
and beaten Chelsea and Man City earlier in the season but arrived at the
Emirates bereft of form.
With a Champions League trip to Barcelona and an FA Cup
quarterfinal away to Manchester United coming up next week Arsenal boss Arsene
Wenger insisted his team were focused entirely on the job in hand but without
injured trio Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott they lacked spark.
Samir Nasri and Jack Wilshere were behind most of Arsenal's
best work but the nearest they came to a first-half goal was when Nicklas
Bendtner's crisp shot was saved by Simon Mignolet.
Arsenal eventually upped the pace but, as so often before,
they failed to turn endless possession into clear chances.
Andrei Arshavin missed two decent opportunities and had a
goal ruled out for a dubious offside decision and substitute Marouane Chamakh
headed against the bar 15 minutes from time.
Sunderland went close to snatching an upset win when Danny
Welbeck's fierce late shot was well saved by Wojciech Szczesny.
Steve Bruce, Sunderland's manager and a veteran of many
title run-ins with Manchester United, said Arsenal were feeling the pressure.
"We used to call it the 'tickly bit' when you get down
to the last nine or 10 games," he told BBC radio Five. "That's upon
them, there's a pressure and an edginess and what happened last week in the cup
final doesn't help them."
