Sunderland drew 0-0 with Arsenal on Sunday but will feel they could have claimed a crucial three points in their Premier League survival battle.
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The Blacks Cats can overtake Norwich and escape the relegation zone with a draw, while victory would put them two points ahead of the Canaries and three ahead of 19th-placed Newcastle while maintaining a game in hand over their North-East rivals.
Arsenal began to crank up the pressure as the first half wore on – and Sunderland needed former Gunner Vito Mannone at his best to keep them out.
Sunderland seemed to have shaken off some early nerves and came inches from taking the lead, with Van Aanholt clipping the crossbar with a curling free-kick.
One bright spot for Arsenal at the Stadium of Light was Jack Wilshere coming on with seven minutes left for his first full-team appearance since breaking his leg pre-season.
The first of which came for Sunderland, who were given some luck when Hector Bellerin’s poor clearance fell straight to Defoe, who hammered a strike from the centre of the box, but the ball hit the hand of Mertesacker, who had his arms up while trying to defend the shot.
A couple of minutes later, Cech was called on again to prevent Khazri’s low drilled effort from smashing into the bottom corner of the net.
Arsenal looked in trouble but should have scored moments later, when Iwobe, with the whole goal to aim at after Mannone had been lured off his line to try and deal with Giroud, sliced a shot as Sunderland’s defenders got back to cover their goalkeeper.
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Petr Cech had been largely a spectator in the opening 45 minutes, but found himself thrust into the spotlight as Sunderland enjoyed their best spell of the match immediately after the re-start.
