Ricky Sbragia

By The Black Cats
February 23 2009

Sunderland boss Ricky Sbragia was more than pleased with his sides goalless draw away from home against Arsene Wenger's Arsenal. Here's what Sbragia had to say about the result: "We had a lot of luck but you need that when you play against the top clubs, we went with a game-plan and it worked.

"Arsenal missed some chances - maybe they weren't clinical enough - and when they hit the target Marton [Fulop] was excellent, he made four or five decent saves.

"Arsenal got in some good positions but their finishing was a bit wild. On another day, they might have won by four.

"We knew we would be under pressure and that's why we played with that system, but we had some decent counter-attacks in the first half and late in the game we got in some good positions.

"We're delighted to come here and get a point.

"There were some outstanding performances. Kieran [Richardson] has been brilliant all season and he was again today, and Deano [Whitehead] ran his socks off.

"We had luck on our side and I hope we do again when we go to Liverpool a week on Tuesday.

"I think we have enough to stay in the Premier League, we have moved on and taken a step forward in recent weeks. We are difficult to beat now.

"We have to win our home games and try to get something away, so this was a bonus."