Sunday 24 April 2016 17:50, UK
Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce thought his side did enough in the second half to win their game against Arsenal but is happy with a vital point following their 0-0 draw.
The result lifts the Black Cats out of the relegation zone on goal difference with four games left to play in the Premier League.
"I thought second half we did enough to maybe pinch the game 1-0," Allardyce told Sky Sports. "We coped extremely well with the possession they had and did limit them mostly to shots from outside the box.
"Second half once we shut [Mohamed] Elneny and [Aaron] Ramsey down and stopped them playing, we started to get amongst it and win more possession, use the ball better and put Arsenal under quite a lot of pressure. So I'm very pleased with the turnaround in our performance.
"[We] made the keeper work in the second half, which was good. I thought we should have had a definite penalty on [Jermain] Defoe, but overall I'm very pleased with the clean sheet and the point."
Both sides had a shout for a penalty for handball late in the first half, but while Allardyce believes DeAndre Yedlin's block on Alex Iwobi's shot was accidental, he thought Per Mertesacker's handling of Defoe's shot should have been given.
"I've looked at it and said Yedlin has no chance of getting his arm out of the way because it hits his leg and arm," said Allardyce. "I can't see that being any chance of being a penalty, whereas Mertesacker has turned his back on the ball, his arm is outstretched and he's stopped what's a certain goal I think.
"You want those things to go for you in our position, but we have earned a point today and the second-half performance it could have been three."
Allardyce now firmly believes his side can go on to stay in the Premier League, beating fellow strugglers Norwich and Newcastle to survive the drop.
He said: "We're out of the bottom three with four games to go. Can we stay there? Now the challenge to the lads is to maintain that, go to Stoke and try and get a win to keep out of the bottom three.
"The resilience of the team and the way the team's playing, I couldn't ask for anymore. We've grown in confidence since January and we have slipped up ourselves by not getting more points and making it safer than it is now, but we're heading down the right track."
