Bramble owes Arshavin | Football News | Sky Sports

Sunderland defender Titus Bramble admits Andrey Arshavin's honesty let him off the hook on Saturday.

Bramble formed part of a Black Cats defence over the weekend that held Arsenal to a goalless draw at Emirates Stadium.

It was a backs to the wall effort from the visitors for the most part, with the Gunners dominating possession for long periods.

They were unable to force a breakthrough, though, with the match officials, the woodwork and some resolute defending keeping them at bay.

Arsenal could, however, have had a penalty had Arshavin taken a tumble after being clipped by Bramble inside the box.

Lucky

Instead the Russian stayed on his feet and shot wide, leaving the Sunderland centre-half a relieved a man.

Bramble said afterwards:"Maybe he was a little bit too honest. But I would say it was good defending. I did enough to put him off.

"We could have won it and had some chances, but so did Arsenal. We were a bit lucky.

"I am not going to lie to you, we did a lot of work defensively because last week[against Everton] we were all over the place.

"We have had a bad run of late so it was good to get a point. We have done really well and we have to continue that."

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