Arsenal concedes late equalizer at Sunderland

Published Sep. 18, 2010 7:51 p.m. ET

foxsports

Ten-man Arsenal conceded an equalizer in the fifth minute of stoppage time on Saturday, with Darren Bent's late goal clinching a 1-1 draw for Sunderland in the Premier League.

Bent forced the ball into the net in a goalmouth scramble after Gael Clichy and Laurent Koscielny failed to clear.

''When you work so hard as we did today, it's fantastic to get that point in the end,'' Bent said.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was angry that the match was still continuing after only four minutes of injury time was initially announced.

''I know it's a minimum of four minutes, but nothing happened in those four minutes to justify them adding more,'' Wenger said. ''But there's nothing I can do. In the second half with 10 men we were the better team, even though we struggled a bit before the break. It's frustrating, but there are a lot of positives we can take from it.''

A freak goal had allowed Arsenal to go ahead in the 13th minute. Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas closed in on Anton Ferdinand, whose clearance hit the midfielder's right foot and the ball looped over goalkeeper Simon Mignolet into the net.

Arsenal was reduced to 10 men in the 55th minute when Alex Song was booked for the second time for a foul on Steed Malbranque.

Fabregas was forced off with a hamstring injury in the 29th and his replacement, Tomas Rosicky, sent a penalty high over the crossbar in the 74th after Samir Nasri was fouled by Ahmed Elmohamady.