Sunderland 1-1 Villa: Villa remain in bottom three after spirited fightback from 10-man Sunderland | OneFootball

Unai Emery’s side are still without their first Premier League win after a spirited Sunderland side clawed back a point after being sent down to 10 men.

As it happened

Sunderland came into this game in seventh place in the Premier League, following an impressive start to the season, Regis Le Bris’ side had won their first two home games and took a lot of confidence into the fixture off the back of a hard fought draw against Crystal Palace last weekend.

By contrast, Emery’s men were yet to score a Premier League goal this season, languishing in the bottom three and with no wins to their name. To find the only other side yet to score in the league this season, you’d have to go all the way down to the ninth tier of the English Football pyramid and to Acle United.

Villa seemed disjointed and lost at times in the early first half. That was until Sunderland defender Reinildo saw red for violent conduct after kicking out at defender Matty Cash.

Despite their deduction to ten men, Sunderland began the second half piling the pressure on Emiliano Martínez’s goal, the Black Cats’ pressure culminated in defender Omar Alderete hitting the crossbar.

As time was ticking for Emery’s side, they finally found an opening as a Cash rocket bamboozled Sunderland goalkeeper Robin Roefs. It seemed a perfect platform for Villa to finally get off the mark this season. However Sunderland’s resilient side had other plans. A clever header from Granit Xhaka allowed Wilson Isidor to poke home the equaliser with 15 minutes left.

While it was almost one way traffic following Sunderland’s equaliser as Villa looked depleted and rudderless as they failed to create much of anything. Ollie Watkins headed a Jadon Sancho cross straight into the grateful arms of Roefs. As a roar of relief ringed around the Stadium of Light, Sunderland maintained their grit and discipline to further frustrate their visitors.

There were few further chances for Villa as the game faded, Sunderland, their three centre halves and the indominable Xhaka made every touch of the ball uncomfortable for Villa and for a team lacking in confidence as is, Villa failed to impress when it mattered yet again.

Before the match, Aston Villa manager Emery spoke about his side’s lack of identity and connection. In stark contrast, Le Bris spoke highly of the togetherness felt at the Stadium of Light and that couldn’t have been more obvious. The point retains Sunderland’s position in eighth place after an unprecedented start to their campaign and their position comes as a reward for only falling to defeat once in their opening five games. By contrast, Aston Villa remain in the relegation zone, their first goal of the season not enough to dampen the spirit of Sunderland. Emery’s side are still yet to win a game in the league.

The Line-Ups

SUN: Roefs; Hume, Alderete, Mukiele, Reinildo; Rigg, Xhaka, Sadiki; Le Fee, Talbi, Isidor