Aston Villa broke their goalscoring duck but were pegged back by 10-man Sunderland in a fraught 1-1 draw at the Stadium of Light.
The newly-promoted hosts, who played just under an hour a player down after Reinildo saw red, defended resolutely while offering more goal threat than out-of-sorts Villa, before a flash of inspiration from Matty Cash saw Villa ahead.
The swerving strike fooled goalkeeper Robin Roefs, as Villa found the net for the first time in 427 minutes of Premier League football. But while the breakthrough will offer some comfort to Unai Emery, the result will not.
Villa were pegged back eight minutes after taking the lead when Granit Xhaka planted a clever header towards the run of Wilson Isidor, who poked beyond Emi Martinez.
Isidor has scored in each of Sunderland's three home games so far - goal threat Emery can only dream of as his side continue to struggle for creative spark. The Villa manager, clearly irritated, disappeared down the tunnel before the final whistle had sounded.
AFerjDxI2311
1
Indeed sunderland they mean business this season. Gracia 👏👏
Niccdortu
0
It was just this week those Covid era journalists had Unay Emery as a possible successor to Amorim. They wanted Amorim out for the same results Emery is brewing at Villa. The articles are there and these shameless journalists go on writing fake news with sensational headlines and get away with it. Is it the players or the coach at Villa not doing what they should be doing? Lucky for him, Villa fans are not the same as the hooligans we have at United and they don't have former players entitled to stirring the pot like we do at United. Otherwise Emery would have been fired by game 3.