Sunderland have never previously won a final game of the season in the Premiership – an unwanted run which showed no real signs of ending yesterday – and three times now, Arsenal have travelled to the Stadium of Light as last-day opponents to come, see and conquer on the eve of their summer holidays.

Some things are different, however – the nail-biting fear of relegation in the last 90 minutes of the campaign was absent for example, as was the shame and humiliation of the last rites being applied to another shameful demotion.

For this was a day when the future seemed bright, even if Arsenal did put Sunderland in the shade.

Intriguingly, the result of yesterday's game was almost a side issue for so many in the vast, season's best crowd.

Arsenal were expected to win; which they duly did. Sunderland were expected to be a whole lot better than they were at Bolton; which they duly were.

But the sell-out crowd which thronged the Stadium of Light came not so much in expectation of seeing a Sunderland win but in anticipation of celebrating their club's top-flight survival.

And if that seems an unambitious objective on their part, well, clearly you haven't lived through the devastating 15-point and 19-point relegations that so many of them have.

They wanted to pay tribute to the players, of course, but not as much as they wanted to hail the chief architects of the new era – Niall Quinn and Roy Keane.

And the stands are buzzing even more about what Sunderland might do next season than what they achieved in the current one. It is a long time since there was such optimism or excitement around the place.

Quinn and his consortium have provided the all-important backing, but it is manager Keane who has given the club direction and rival boss Arsene Wenger was the first to acknowledge: "When you come up into the Premier League with as little experience as he had and manage to keep a club up, then you have to say congratulations to him. It is remarkable."

Everyone knows the Sunderland manager's mind is turning towards the future, but he still wanted to end the season on a positive note and, as a result, he made five changes to the side which lost so poorly at Bolton the previous week.

Goalkeeper Marton Fulop got his moment in the shop window and veteran Dwight Yorke was given what could be a sentimental farewell appearance as the manager went for a 4-5-1 formation.

That meant Michael Chopra dropped to the bench, alongside Liam Miller and Danny Higginbotham, who had also started in the Bolton reverse. Two of their other team-mates weren't even that lucky – Kieran Richardson and Daryl Murphy didn't feature in the squad.

Grant Leadbitter and Carlos Edwards came in to fill the resulting gaps.

The change of personnel sparked an immediate response and Sunderland went for goal in the first 12 seconds with winger Edwards arrowing a bold shot from distance to Lukasz Fabianski's right-hand corner, which the keeper blocked and gathered at the second attempt.

Arsenal hit back a minute later through Emmanuel Eboue's surging run down the right flank and low shot which Fulop clung on to as an incident-packed first half-hour unfolded.

Play was held up for several minutes for Eboue to receive treatment after a clumsy challenge from Danny Collins recalled memories of Dan Smith's horror tackle on Abou Diaby which sidelined the player for almost a year when Sunderland played Arsenal in a League Cup tie in the 15-point season.

Thankfully, though, the stretcher was sent back empty-handed as Eboue's injury lasted less than half-a-dozen minutes.

Arsenal might have take the lead in the seventh minute after Emmanuel Adebayor played a classy one-two with Denilson, but Fulop was there to
make a brilliant save.

Then it was Sunderland's turn to put Arsenal's goal under pressure after Wallace's beautiful first touch took him away from the Gunners' defence and he was brought down by Eboue.

That gave Leadbittter a chance with a free-kick, 30 yards out on the left of goal, which was curled inches over the Arsenal crossbar.

It was as good an opening 10 minutes as had been seen at the Stadium of Light all season and chants were ringing around the stadium, first in praise of Quinn and then Keane.

Sunderland earned a free-kick and a corner on the quarter-hour – the first for a foul on Edwards, the second for a deflected Wallace shot and, from Reid's ball in from the right corner flag, Yorke unleashed a vicious, rising drive over the bar from the far post.

And it was only when Walcott produced a shot in the 22nd minute which Fulop saved comfortably that you realised half-a-dozen minutes had come and gone without a dangerous attack or fearsome shot.

That respite, though, was not to last.

Arsenal got their breakthrough in the 24th minute with an exquisite goal – Brazilian midfielder Gilberto picking his pass perfectly from the halfway line and Theo Walcott timing his run superbly to bisect Collins and Jonny Evans, sprint in on goal and drive a low shot beyond Fulop from the edge of the box.

It was Walcott who had broken Sunderland's spirits in the dying stages of their game at the Emirates in October and yesterday he proved the thorn in their side again.

Sunderland responded well and pressured all around the Arsenal goalmouth before the half-hour but were unable to get a clear shot at goal and 10 minutes before the break and both sides were being positive – Senderos sending in a thumping shot from 35 yards out, Leadbitter with a header from eight yards which landed on the roof of the Arsenal net.

Sunderland continued to press and Alexandre Song was forced to put out for a corner in the 37th minute from which Collins headed over from a good position six yards out.

The hosts had to be careful not to get caught out and Walcott might have grabbed a second after an offside flag stayed down, but a more crushing blow came just before half-time when the well-shackled Kenwyne Jones took a blow on his right wrist from an attempted clearance and had to head down the tunnel with what looked like a break.

"It's a cracked wrist," revealed Keane afterwards. "He'll have to wear a cast for the next six weeks."

Understandably, Jones failed to emerge after the half-time interval and he was replaced by Roy O'Donovan, who was to have a great chance to make a lasting impression with a string of openings but failed to finish off any of them.

His first came in the 50th minute when he headed over Collins' left-wing cross, his second arrived 15 minutes later when Yorke played a great ball through the Arsenal defence only for the Irishman to make a hash of his shot from the edge of the six-yard box.

His third opportunity came in the 75th minute when he drove a shot wastefully across goal from the right.

But it was far from being all Sunderland.

Fulop had to be off his line instantly to make a fine save from Adebayor in the 55th minute and Sunderland had to survive a bizarre free-kick from just six yards out just before the hour when Dean Whitehead – operating at right-back – was penalised for a back pass to Fulop which Gilberto, mercifully for the home team, sliced wide of goal.

Substitute Michael Chopra had a chance in the 78th minute when Andy Reid and Collins linked well, but the striker was unable to control the ball in the six-yard box.

But Walcott got the better of Collins in the dying stages and Arsenal had the ball in the back of the net through substitute Mark Randall, only for it to be harshly ruled offside – then Fulop produced a world-class save to deny Randall on the stroke of full-time.

In the final seconds, there was the promise that Sunderland might yet have the most romantic of ends to their season with another trademark late goal, but a great right-wing centre from Whitehead, which brought a deft touch from O'Donovan, was saved by Fabianski.

The final whistle brought acclamation from buoyant home fans, who had spent the preceding 20 minutes involved in Mexican waves and chants saluting Evans' quality defending

A walk around from the players and staff saw the efforts of those on both sides of the pitch perimeter applauded – players appreciating fans; fans appreciating players.

But attention is already fixed on the future.

Keane is not fooling himself about the quality of his squad and neither, you would expect, is chairman Quinn.

After the spending of more than £40million this season, Sunderland finished with 39 points. Quinn was part of a Peter Reid squad which were relegated from the Premiership with 40.

Staying up has been a great achievement for Sunderland. But there's no time for resting on laurels.