Sunderland on Monday climbed into the English Premier League’s top four after Granit Xhaka’s deflected strike salvaged a 1-1 draw at home to Everton.
The Black Cats would have moved up to second with a victory, but were outplayed in the first half and trailed to Iliman Ndiaye’s brilliant individual effort.
Everton were left to regret not making more of their first-half dominance as Thierno Barry missed a glorious chance and Jack Grealish hit the post.
Photo: Reuters
Sunderland took less than a minute of the second half to hit back when Xhaka’s strike flicked off James Tarkowski to beat England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford on his return to the Stadium of Light.
The home side then looked the more likely to claim all three points, but Wilson Isidor fluffed Sunderland’s best chance to snatch victory.
“The first 25 minutes was not good enough,” Xhaka told Sky Sports. “At this level you get punished, but the second half was very good.”
A point at least maintains Sunderland’s unbeaten home record and their impressive start to a first top-flight campaign in eight seasons.
Everton edge five points clear of the bottom three in 14th, but the Toffees glaring lack of a prolific No. 9 again cost them victory.
“For 20 to 30 minutes I thought I’d be disappointed going home with a point. By the end of the game, I was pleased we got a point from it,” Everton head coach David Moyes said. “We missed a big chance to make it 2-0, and because we don’t get that it gave Sunderland a bit of confidence and gave the crowd something to get behind.”
A moment of magic gave the visitors the lead on 15 minutes as Ndiaye danced his way through four Sunderland defenders before firing into the top corner for his fourth goal of the season.
Grealish then hit the post from long range, but it was Barry’s miss that will live long in the memories of the traveling support heading back to Merseyside.
The Frenchman has still yet to score since his ￡27 million (US$35 million) move from Villarreal in July and will not get a better chance than when he sliced horribly off target with the goal gaping at the back post from Grealish’s cross.
Despite a sub-par first 45 minutes, Sunderland were level within 44 seconds of the second half when Xhaka netted his first goal since joining from Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
A share of the spoils takes Sunderland above Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea, and level on points with Liverpool, but they will need to be much better to protect their unbeaten run at the Stadium of Light when leaders Arsenal visit on Saturday.
TIGHT GAME: The Detroit Pistons, the NBA’s second-best team, barely outlasted the Washington Wizards, who fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss Cade Cunningham’s triple double, Daniss Jenkins’ three-pointer at the buzzer and Javonte Green’s overtime dunk lifted Detroit past Washington 137-135 on Monday, stretching the Pistons’ win streak to seven games. In an unexpected thriller, the NBA’s second-best team barely outlasted a Wizards club that fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss. “We knew how big this game was for us,” Jenkins said. “We wasn’t going to let nothing stop us from getting this W.” Cunningham made 14-of-45 shots and 16-of-18 free throws for a career-high 46 points, and added 12 rebounds, 11 assists, five steals and two
LIKE FINE WINE: Thirty-eight-year-old Djokovic won his 101st title of his career in Athens, becoming the oldest tournament winner since Ken Roswell, 44, in 1977 Elena Rybakina on Saturday clinched her biggest title since Wimbledon in 2022, defeating world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6 (7/0) at the WTA Finals in Riyadh. The world No. 6 put on yet another serving masterclass and was at her returning best as she became the first Kazakh and the first player representing an Asian country to lift the WTA Finals singles trophy. Having gone 3-0 in round-robin play, Rybakina earned a record US$5.235 million and would finish the year ranked No. 5 in the world. “It’s been an incredible week, I honestly didn’t expect any result, and to go so far,
EMPTY STANDS: Maccabi fans were banned from attending by police, who cited violence and hate crimes when the team played Ajax in Amsterdam last season Aston Villa beat Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-0 on Thursday in a Europa League game played amid heightened security measures, with more than 700 police officers deployed to deal with possible protests. Morgan Rogers put through Ian Maatsen in first-half stoppage time for the defender to score from a tight angle and Villa doubled the lead on the hour with Donyell Malen hitting the bottom corner from the penalty spot. It was Villa’s third win from games in the competition. The game at Villa Park had become the center of a political debate after Maccabi fans were banned from attending, as
An amateur soccer league organized by farmers, students and factory workers in rural China has unexpectedly drawn millions of fans and inspired big cities to form their own, raising hopes China can grow talent from the ground up and finally become a global force. The nation of 1.4 billion people has about 200 million soccer fans, more than any other country, but it has failed to build world-class teams, partly due to a top-down approach where clubs pick players from a very small pool of prescreened candidates. The professional game is marred by a history of fixed matches, corruption, and dismal performances,
RSS