Bruce rues costly Cattermole miss

Robin van Persie fired the Gunners into the lead on 29 seconds, a lead which was cancelled out by Seb Larsson's superb free-kick half an hour later.

But van Persie, in imperious form, struck back seven minutes from time with a perfect free-kick of his own.

Sunderland were left to rue a host of missed chances in the first half which Bruce feels was the turning point between two sides who so desperately needed the three points.

Lee Cattermole headed straight into the body of Wojciech Szczesny from Stephane Sessegnon's cross, and Bruce said of the chance: "The big turning point in the game for me was the miss just before half time (by Cattermole). Had we taken that, it might have been a different story.

"I'd be disappointed not to stick that in from three yards and I'm sure Lee will be tonight. It was a great save, let's be fair, but he'll be disappointed from that position."

For 67 minutes, Sessegnon had ploughed a lone furrow, causing Arsenal's trembling back four plenty of trouble.

But in that time he sorely needed a strike partner. The fact that it was Cattermole, a defensive midfielder by trade, who was furthest forward for Sunderland, displayed how little the visitors had in attack.

Nevertheless, Bruce praised his side's resilience to stay in the game for the duration despite another horror start.

He said: "That's been our season so far. We've played badly probably once in the eight games - against Norwich, which we're disappointed with. We showed a huge amount of resilience to get back into it because it was an awful start to be one down after 30 seconds.

"It gave them a huge, big lift and for 20 minutes we had to stick in there. All credit to them, we stuck in there and Seb got us back in it with a wonder goal.

"We've had a disappointing start so it's a little bit of confidence. We were 2-0 down last week after three minutes and got back into it.

"We were 1-0 down at Arsenal and got back into it. It's been a bit of a frustrating start. But I look at them every day, I work with them every day, and I've got the nucleus of a very decent squad. We have to admit it's been a disappointing start but stick together and stick with it."

Usually, an international break is an ideal opportunity for a team to recharge their batteries, to work on tactics on the training ground, to learn from mistakes that may have been made in the past.

Perhaps, therefore, it will have come as a relief for Bruce that, 15 days after his side conceded twice in the first five minutes, Sunderland only conceded one this time. It took Arsenal 29 seconds to grasp the lead when Gervinho squared for van Persie, who fired a right-footed shot past Simon Mignolet.

The Dutch striker continued to torment Sunderland's back four in a spell of attacking football that could and should have yielded more goals.

Firstly, van Persie showed sublime skill to wriggle past Kieran Richardson on 12 minutes, then - again on his weaker foot - lobbing Mignolet only to see his shot bounce off the post, then off the line.

Two minutes later, van Persie drove clear of his marker to fire just wide of Mignolet's post.

It was then Gervinho's turn to have a go at the back four. Taking advantage of some static defending on 21 minutes, the Arsenal striker turned John O'Shea, before curling his shot over the bar.

A minute later, Gervinho - again from the left flank - won a corner after bursting into the box unopposed. From the corner, Richardson had to clear off the line after Mignolet came, but missed.

Other than a wayward Richardson shot, Sunderland had not been in the game. But on the half-hour mark, a handball 20 yards out by Mikael Arteta resulted in a free-kick to the visitors.

Much was made of Larsson's dead-ball ability when he signed from Birmingham City in the summer, and to a man he has proved that, firstly against Stoke last month and again, yesterday, at the Emirates, curling his shot perfectly into the top corner.

Five minutes later, Sessegnon, who had already shown flashes of inspiration, burst into the Arsenal box and lofted a perfect pass to the back post, where - in the absence of a second striker - Cattermole headed straight at Szczesny. If he had headed down, or either side of the Pole, it would surely have been a goal.

On the stroke of half-time, Jack Colback spurned a gilt-edged chance when, from Larsson's knockdown of a Sessegnon cross, he volleyed over the bar from six yards.

After a nightmare opening 20 minutes, few would have expected Sunderland to still be in the game at half-time.

But, in spite of a team selection that saw no strikers on the pitch for Sunderland, and a shaky performance from the visitors' back five, the Black Cats somehow managed to stay competitive - which is testament to Arsenal's current malaise as opposed to Sunderland's performance.

On 50 minutes, Mignolet had to be on his toes to paw away a deflection off Richardson, while Cattermole did well to clear the danger.

Sunderland had their first chance of the second half on 58 minutes when O'Shea headed Larsson's free-kick wide of the post, before a spell of play that produced five yellow cards in a fractious ten minutes gave the game a gritty edge. Brown, Vaughan and Larsson were carded for silly fouls on the edge of Mignolet's box, while Alex Song and Laurent Koscielny entered the book for niggly challenges on the halfway line.

Van Persie saw a 65th minute shot saved at the feet of Mignolet as Sunderland struggled to clear their lines.

It took Bruce more than an hour of play to decide that bringing on a second striker would provide more of an attacking threat, with Ji Dong-won entering the fray on 67 minutes.

However, there were grumbles from Sunderland's travelling support when it was Larsson, Sunderland's goalscorer and arguably main creator of chances who was replaced, and again on 79 minutes when the lively Sessegnon was replaced by Connor Wickham.

Bruce said of the substitutions: "Seb was physically out on his feet at half-time. He's had a huge week with his country and got a couple of goals but he was in a tough way at half-time. He was exhausted with cramp in one of his calves. We just decided he was in a bit of a mess so we didn't want to injure the poor kid.

"Sessegnon, we've played him in that position before against the big guys. That was the plan, they wouldn't enjoy playing against the little fella - he's a good player, a good technician. He took the ball, caused them all sorts of problems and that piece of real quality he showed to stand the ball up for Catts at the back post, for me that's the deciding part of the game."

But it was Arsenal's substitution that had a greater impact on his introduction, Andrey Arshavin gliding through the Sunderland defence to fire just wide, five minutes after coming on. The Russian playmaker showed some smart touches as the hosts looked for what would be the winning goal.

It was not Arshavin who took that plaudit - although he did force a fine save out of Mignolet on 85 minutes - but the man of the match van Persie, who arrowed a perfect free-kick into the Belgian's top left corner on 83 minutes.

Sunderland thought they had an equaliser a minute after, when Ji slotted home from Wickham's deflected ball through, but he was - rightly - flagged for offside.

Both teams sorely needed the three points to get their respective campaigns on track, but it was Sunderland who were left wanting, a fact only too apparent for Bruce.

He said: "I just thought we needed to get a foothold in the game. The longer it went, of course it's never easy in a grumbling stadium. It's difficult, they've had a difficult start like we have, Arsenal. But you know they will improve and be where we expect them to be.

"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know (what the mood was like) and we know what it's like to play in a grumbling stadium, believe me! You've got to take advantage of it as an away team. Late in the second half I thought we were doing that. For me, after the first 20 to 30 minutes I thought we deserved to get something.

"We haven't got quite what we deserved this season. In the Premier League you can be beaten by a wonder goal like van Persie's in the last ten minutes. That doesn't happen very often in other divisions. You can quite easily go six, seven games (without winning) at this level. It's our turn, we must accept that, get on with it and believe we'll get better and the results will come."