THERE is still plenty of work to do, but Sunderland continue to edge towards safety.

Above both Newcastle United and Norwich City, and out of the bottom three for the first time since the start of last month, Sam Allardyce’s side are winning the three-way tussle that will determine who plays Premier League football next season.

They look like a side capable of securing the points that are required to finish in 17th position, and crucially, they are defending like one too. Keeping out a below-par Norwich side was one thing; neutering an Arsenal line-up that at various stages featured Olivier Giroud, Danny Welbeck, Theo Walcott, Alexis Sanchez and Mezut Ozil was quite another.

Allardyce claimed an ability to keep clean sheets would be the key determinant in the relegation fight a month ago, and since then Sunderland have recorded three shut-outs in the space of four games. Keep three more in the next four matches, and they will almost certainly be safe.

In January signing Lamine Kone and the seemingly re-born Younes Kaboul, Allardyce has identified a centre-half partnership with the necessary blend of physicality and precision. Kone in particular was superb, and with Lee Cattermole continuing his renaissance at the heart of midfield, Sunderland successfully restricted their Champions League-chasing opponents to a handful of openings.

If anything, the better chances came at the opposite end of the field, with Patrick van Aanholt striking the woodwork with a free-kick and both Jermain Defoe and Wahbi Khazri forcing Petr Cech to produce fine second-half saves.

Both sides might have had a first-half penalty with the ball striking Per Mertesacker’s hand and DeAndre Yedlin’s arm, but referee Mike Dean was probably right to wave away both appeals. A draw, while not a sensational result for either side as they pursue different aims at opposite ends of the table, was undeniably a fair outcome. You suspect it is Sunderland, though, that will draw more solace from it.

To describe their display as a ‘typical Sam Allardyce performance’ might be interpreted as damning it with faint praise, but it shouldn’t be. Fiercely committed, supremely well organised and boasting a collective energy level that ensured Sunderland did not flag in the final few minutes, this was further evidence of Allardyce’s transformative effect in the second half of the season. Even now, it is still tempting to wonder what might have been had he been in place for the whole of the campaign.

Had Dick Advocaat still been in charge today, Sunderland might well have crumbled in the opening ten minutes. Arsenal started the day with a four-point cushion over Manchester United, but the need to nail down the final Champions League spot meant they did not lack motivation.

With Alex Iwobi, a 19-year-old Nigerian who is the latest teenage talent to have emerged from the Arsenal academy, pulling the strings and eclipsing the more established Ozil and Sanchez, the visitors created three chances in the opening ten minutes.

Iwobi failed to convert the first of them, drilling narrowly past the post after dribbling towards the edge of the area, and Vito Mannone was called into action to keep out the other two, scrambling Giroud’s effort around the post and saving from Mertesacker from the resultant corner.

At that stage, Sunderland were in danger of being embarrassed, but to the home side’s credit, they quickly regrouped and began to press Arsenal’s players when they were in possession of the ball. Deprived of time and space, errors began to creep into the Gunners’ play.

Cattermole was the catalyst for Sunderland’s revival, constantly cajoling his team-mates and haring into tackles and blocks in the central third. In a world of garishly-coloured footwear – three of Arsenal’s players wore one green boot and one pink one – it somehow seems fitting that Cattermole sticks rigidly to the traditional all black.

The Sunderland skipper came close to what would have been a rare goal when he whistled a 15th-minute strike narrowly wide of the upright, and with Khazri also seeing a shot deflect narrowly wide, the hosts had successfully survived the early storm.

They almost fared much better in the 22nd minute, but while van Aanholt’s curled free-kick was deft enough to beat Cech, it rebounded off the intersection of post and crossbar. The full-back, with five league goals to his name this season, remains a useful attacking asset.

Arsenal remained a threat – the quality of their attacking options meant Kaboul and Kone always had to be on their mettle – and Mannone did well to prevent Sanchez’s free-kick from creeping in before Yedlin scrambled Iwobi’s close-range effort off the goalline.

The penalty shouts followed, with Sunderland’s coming first. Mertesacker turned his back on Defoe’s strike, which hit the Arsenal centre-half on the hand as he waved his arm away from his body. Mertesacker’s arm was in an unnatural position, but given that he was standing less than a yard away from his opponent, the concession of a penalty would have been harsh.

Four minutes later, and it was Sunderland breathing a sigh of relief as Yedlin slid to the floor to block Iwobi’s goalbound effort with a trailing arm. Again, the defender’s arm was away from his body. Again, though, a penalty would have been a harsh decision given that the ball deflected off Kaboul before striking Yedlin.

Parity at the interval was no more than Sunderland deserved, and whereas Arsenal had dominated the early stages of the first half, the hosts emerged after the break to force Cech into three superb saves at the start of the second.

The first was the best, with the Arsenal goalkeeper parrying a ferocious half-volley from Defoe after Jan Kirchhoff’s inch-perfect long ball had sent the former Spurs striker scampering into the box.

Cech turned Yann M’Vila’s follow-up effort around the post, and was at it again moments later as Khazri cut in dangerously from the left flank. Sunderland were frustrated, but momentum was on their side.

Cattermole released Defoe into the inside-right channel, but while his lobbed shot beat Cech, the ball drifted agonisingly wide of the left-hand post. Hands were on heads moments later, as Kone somehow failed to make contact with Khazri’s dangerous free-kick from a position inside the six-yard box.

Wenger brought on Walcott, Welbeck and Jack Wilshere in an attempt to claim a late winner, but the closest Arsenal came was a dangerous strike from Sanchez that Mannone saved to his left.