Arsenal left the Stadium of Light with a 2-0 win, but the scoreline does not tell the story of an unusually busy night inside both penalty areas.

Sunderland were awarded a penalty. They had another handball appeal checked. Later, three Sunderland players went down during the same attack and VAR again became involved without recommending a review.

Then, deep into stoppage time, Arsenal received a penalty of their own.

The most interesting question may not concern either of the penalties that were actually given. It is whether Sunderland should have had another one.

54': Konsa and Ballard wrestle, Sunderland get the penalty

The first major decision came from one of Sunderland's long throws.

Kevin Danso launched the ball into Arsenal's penalty area and Ezri Konsa and Dan Ballard became locked together near the penalty spot. Referee John Brooks decided Konsa had brought Ballard down and pointed to the spot.

VAR checked the decision and allowed it to stand.

There was plenty of contact between both players, which makes it a useful example of the difficulty VAR faces with holding offences. Once the referee had decided that Konsa's action crossed the line into a foul, the video officials did not consider the evidence strong enough to overturn him.

Enzo Le Fée stepped up in the 56th minute, but David Raya produced an excellent save and pushed the penalty onto the post.

That miss matters when looking back at the game. The decision itself was debatable, but it did not ultimately change the score.

Two minutes later, Bruno Guimarães put Arsenal ahead.

64': Sunderland ask for handball

Sunderland were soon appealing again.

A Granit Xhaka delivery was sent towards Dan Ballard before Thomas Meunier attacked the loose ball. The ball appeared to strike an Arsenal player and VAR checked for a possible handball.

The check ended without intervention and play continued.

It was another penalty-area decision, but not the moment that created the biggest question of the second half.

77': three players go down, but no penalty

This is the incident that deserves the closest look.

Malick Fofana reached the Arsenal area and cut the ball back into a crowded penalty box. Nordi Mukiele went down under a challenge. Wilson Isidor then attempted to play the loose ball before both Isidor and Fofana also ended up on the ground.

There were effectively several possible penalty incidents within a matter of seconds.

VAR checked the sequence and decided there was no reason to intervene.

That does not automatically mean Sunderland should have received a penalty. With several players challenging for the ball in a congested area, individual pieces of contact can look much clearer when isolated from the full sequence.

But this is exactly the kind of situation where the VAR threshold becomes interesting.

Was Mukiele brought down illegally before the rest of the scramble developed? Was there enough contact on Isidor or Fofana? Or was the referee right to allow a physical, chaotic passage of play to continue?

Unlike Sunderland's earlier penalty, this decision left no kick from the spot and therefore no obvious second chance for the referee to reconsider what had happened.

For VarVote, that makes the non-intervention the most interesting decision of the match.

Stoppage time: Arsenal get their penalty

The final major penalty decision went Arsenal's way.

With Sunderland pushing for an equaliser, Bukayo Saka was fouled late in stoppage time. Reinildo received his second yellow card and Sunderland were reduced to ten men.

Saka converted the resulting penalty in the 97th minute to make it 2-0.

Unlike the earlier Sunderland appeals, this incident produced the clearest consequence: a penalty, a dismissal and the goal that ended the contest.

So which decision deserves the debate?

There is a temptation to focus on Sunderland's first penalty because it was the first major VAR moment of the night.

But Raya saved it.

The more interesting VAR question came later.

At 1-0, Sunderland were still chasing the game when Fofana's cut-back created a sequence in which Mukiele, Isidor and Fofana all ended up on the ground inside Arsenal's area. VAR looked at what happened and decided that none of it justified intervention.

Had a penalty been awarded there, Sunderland would have had the opportunity to equalise with the match still very much alive.

That does not make the VAR decision wrong. It does make it the decision from Sunderland v Arsenal that deserves another look.

The question is simple: should Sunderland have been awarded a penalty during the 77th-minute scramble?