Sunderland have been accused of potentially endangering the safety of players by employing the surprise tactic that helped them secure a 2-2 draw against Arsenal.
The Premier League leaders were forced to settle for a share of the spoils against this season’s surprise packages after Brian Brobbey rescued a point with an injury time equaliser.
Arsenal had come from behind to take a 2-1 lead thanks to second half goals from Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard, both of which came from open play.
The set piece kings were restricted to just two corners across the whole match, while their long throws created less panic than usual, in part down to Sunderland’s decision to change the position of their advertising hoardings.
By reducing the distance between the boards and the touchline, the likes of Declan Rice and Riccardo Calafiori were prevented from taking lengthy run-ups that help propel the ball significant distances.
Get personalised updates on Arsenal everyday
Wake up to find news on your club in your inbox every morning with Metro’s Football Newsletter.
Sign up to our newsletter and then select your team in the link we’ll send you so we can get football news tailored to you.
According to beIN Sports host, Richard Keys, Arsenal will hold an internal meeting on Monday to discuss Sunderland’s clever ploy but questioned whether the tactic was entirely safe, especially in light of Billy Vigar’s tragic death back in September.
The former Arsenal youngster died, aged just 21, when he collided with a brick wall that was in close proximity to the pitch and Keys argued player safety must be paramount in any decision made that could cause a physical injury.
He said: ‘Sunderland did not commit an offence of any kind. What they did was moved the hoardings in with the idea being stop Arsenal using long throws.
‘It’s very clear the purpose of having done that, as long as there’s a metre between the touchline and the hoarding.
‘But in a time where we’ve recently had a fatality because of the proximity of a concrete wall, and I know it’s entirely different, I just looked at that yesterday and it looked a bit close for me.
‘That might be endangering the wellbeing of those on the football pitch. I know there’s a meeting at Arsenal tomorrow to discuss.
‘No rules have been broken, Sunderland are well within their rights, but I’m not sure.
‘On the one hand it’s very smart, it’s a talking point and it did go unnoticed by Arsenal and it was a subject of conversation after they’d left the ground yesterday so we’ll wait for developments on that.’
When asked about Sunderland moving the boards closer to the pitch, the Black Cats manager, Regis Le Bris replied with a smile: ‘Yeah, we tried to find the details to win the game.
‘They are really strong on set-pieces, we were good as well.
‘It was absolutely obvious this threat was really important for this game and in the end it was balanced.’