Sunderland 1-1 Everton: Xhaka’s first goal of the season sends Black Cats back up to fourth | OneFootball

Granit Xhaka scored his first goal for his new club as Sunderland battled back from a fantastic Iliman Ndiaye goal to continue their unbeaten home form and move back into the top four.

As it happened

Following on from a fantastic win away at Chelsea, the Sunderland returned to the Stadium of Light where they were still unbeaten in the League to face an Everton side who had been underperforming recently. With David Moyes facing mounting pressure in regards to his team selection, Everton switched out striker Beto with Thierno Barry.

The Toffees started well. James Garner almost gave them the lead after just 12 seconds but his shot fell wide of Robin Roefs’ goal. Sunderland, starting in the same formation as against Chelsea, looked half asleep in the early minutes as Ndiaye and Jack Grealish dominated proceedings. Noah Sadiki summed up his side’s frustrations when he was booked for kicking out at Garner following a few tightly contested challenges.

It wasn’t long before Everton made their dominance count. Ndiaye finished off a mazy run through the Sunderland back line with a wonderful finish which was more than what the Toffees deserved. They nearly doubled their lead in quick succession as Grealish’s strike hit the post just minutes after. Everton were well on top and should have been out of sight before Sunderland woke up. Barry somehow hit an effort well over the bar from what seemed like an impossible-to-miss chance as the Black Cats held on.

As the half wore on, the hosts grew in confidence yet still failed to create much of anything to trouble Jordan Pickford on his return to his boyhood club. But Sunderland were well on top and the half time whistle saved Everton, but it wasn’t for long, as almost immediately after the restart Sunderland levelled things up curtesy of a Xhaka strike. It was the veteran’s first goal for his new club and, although it was large in part thanks to a kind deflection from James Tarkowski, the 20-yard strike was a fitting way to draw level.

Sunderland almost immediately took the lead when Enzo Le Fée cannoned a shot past the Everton defence, but Pickford was equal to it and made a smart save. Sunderland had multiple chances as the game went on, and went from being happy with a point to disappointed. From the Barry miss in the 28th minute, Sunderland went on to have the next 16 shots in the game and completely dominated proceedings, but failed to find the winner that would’ve taken Regis Le Bris’ side up to second in the table.

The draw moves Sunderland back into the Champions League places after more than a quarter of the season, and they’ll host league leaders Arsenal in their next game. Everton, meanwhile, have one win in eight and sit 14th, as they host lowly Fulham in their next Premier League outing.

The line-ups

SUN: Roefs; Hume, Ballard, Mukiele, Geertruida Reinildo; Xhaka, Sadiki; Le Fée, Traoré, Isidor