Fabregas rescues Arsenal from more misery
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Cesc Fabregas claimed a vital injury-time equaliser as Arsenal escaped with a point from a dramatic 1-1 draw at Sunderland overnight.
Arsene Wenger's side appeared to be heading for back-to-back league defeats for the first time in 18 months when substitute Grant Leadbitter broke the deadlock with a stunning 86th-minute strike.
But Arsenal showed a never-say-die spirit which was rewarded in the fourth and final minute of stoppage time as Fabregas stole in through a crowd of players at the near post to head home Robin van Persie's corner.
At the JJB Stadium, Middlesbrough staged a smash and grab raid on Wigan as Jeremie Aliadiere's late strike clinched a 1-0 win.
Gareth Southgate's side were out-played for long periods but somehow emerged with all three points thanks to Aliadiere's opportunistic goal in the last minute.
It was cruel on Wigan, who had stunned Manchester City in their last league match, but Steve Bruce's team were left to rue missed chances.
In Sunderland, despite the late heroics from Fabregas, Arsenal will see the draw as a missed opportunity to go top as they dropped more valuable points against lesser opponents following last week's setback against Hull.
To make matters worse, the north London club was denied what appeared to be a perfectly good second-half goal as their seven-game league winning streak against the Wearsiders was brought to a halt.
Van Persie looked to have finally broken the deadlock when he swept home an inviting cut-back from Theo Walcott 11 minutes after the break as the visitors enjoyed a sustained spell of pressure against their hard-working hosts.
But the Dutch international's joy was short-lived as the referee's assistant ruled that England international Walcott had taken the ball over the byline before crossing as he tussled for the ball with Northern Ireland defender George McCartney.
Initial television replays proved inconclusive but to their credit the Arsenal players didn't make a big issue out of the incident, which took on even greater significance as substitute Leadbitter held off Alexandre Song to fire a thunderous shot home from 25 yards off the underside of the bar.
Wearside-born Leadbitter had only been on the pitch for two minutes, and his joy was unconfined as the homegrown talent celebrated what he thought was the winning goal.
This was Sunderland's first point against any of the Premier League 'big four' since they returned to the top flight 14 months ago, and they fully deserved a share of the spoils for their endeavours.
But Arsenal, who saw Craig Gordon brilliantly beat out a late van Persie effort, will see this as two points dropped and a failure to steal a match on their rivals.
- AFP
