LONDON: Sunderland secured their Premier League survival after manning the barricades to tough out a 0-0 draw at Arsenal, for whom a point was enough to all but seal third place and a spot in the Champions League group stage on Wednesday.

The battle to avoid relegation is now a straight shootout between Hull City and 17th-place Newcastle United, who are two points better off heading into Sunday’s final round. Hull are at home to Manchester United while Newcastle host West Ham United.

Sunderland needed a point to ensure their top flight status and defended like their lives depended on it to move up to 15th, four points clear of Hull in the final relegation place, ensuring Dick Advocaat completed the survival mission he took on when replacing Gus Poyet as manager two months ago.

Advocaat was tearful at the final whistle on the Emirates Stadium pitch, the first time the 67-year-old Dutchman said he had cried during an illustrious football career.

“Nobody was expecting we would do it and the team did it together,” said Advocaat, who has won titles with PSV Eindhoven, Zenit Saint-Petersburg and Glasgow club, Rangers.

“It is an unbelievable moment staying up,” he added. “Arsenal were the better side but our organisation was unbelievably good. The emotion was so high. It’s an unbelievable feeling that we did it by ourselves. The most important thing is the players started believing they could do something.”

It was a frustrating evening for Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal, who are now unable to catch Manchester City in second, but are three points clear of fourth placed Manchester United with a comfortably superior goal difference.

“We lacked a bit of sharpness at the moment in our movement, in the way we create our chances and our finishing as well,” said Wenger, whose team’s trophy hopes rest on the May 30 FA Cup final against Aston Villa.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2015

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