It had been eight years since these two sides faced off in the PL, but barely 10 seconds had gone when Everton registered their first shot, with Jake O’Brien firing a whisker wide of the mark.
The visitors’ pressure continued, and they were rewarded inside 15 minutes when Iliman Ndiaye won it back off Noah Sadiki and raced past challenges into the box, before curling into the far corner with his left foot.
Sunderland’s brilliant performances so far this season – which had produced their joint-highest top-flight points tally through nine matches – left them in a position to potentially go second here, but Everton kept the pressure on, and Jack Grealish hit the post from distance before Thierno Barry scooped over at the far post from just a couple of yards out.
The hosts did grow into the game before half-time though, and had numerous chances to equalise including Daniel Ballard’s effort which was scrambled off the line by Michael Keane.
The Black Cats’ newfound dominance continued right from the start of the second half, and they duly found a leveller less than 45 seconds in. Enzo Le Fee laid it off for Granit Xhaka, whose shot from the edge of the box deflected off James Tarkowski and in off the underside of the bar.
The home crowd roared their side on to more chances, but they perhaps more importantly kept their opponents at bay, with Everton entering the final 10 minutes having failed to even have a touch in Sunderland’s box in the second half.
Sunderland’s impetus had fizzled out by that point, and only Vitaliy Mykolenko’s drive from range tested either goalkeeper in the final minutes.
Although they weren’t able to complete the comeback and collect all three points, the result was enough to see Sunderland back into the top four after claiming a league-high eighth point from losing positions this season.
Everton’s early promise was not enough to propel them to a third consecutive H2H win, and David Moyes will hope his side can turn things around at home to Fulham on Saturday.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Granit Xhaka (Sunderland)
Key stats
- Sunderland have won eight points from losing positions in the Premier League this season, more than any other team.
- Sunderland have scored in their last three games in the Premier League, their longest run of games with a goal in the competition since a run of five games from 17th December 2016 to 14th January 2017.
- Charly Alcaraz's yellow card shortly before full-time was Everton's 24th of the current Premier League season. Only Bournemouth (25) have more to their name this term.