Key stats
- Ben Davies scored his first Premier League goal since December 2023 v Brighton.
- Sunderland have won 13 points from losing positions in the Premier League this season, only Aston Villa (18) have recovered more.
- All three of Brian Brobbey's Premier League goals have either equalised (2) or given Sunderland a lead (1).
Highlights
Analysis
Tottenham were punished for allowing Sunderland to regain a foothold in the game in the second half.
Match report
The hosts showed early intent with Mathys Tel getting a shot off inside the opening minute, and they stayed on the front foot despite it not taking Sunderland long to look strong defensively.
Pedro Porro hit an audacious shot that floated harmlessly off-target and Richarlison’s tame shot was routinely claimed by Robin Roefs.
There was then a blow for Thomas Frank as Mohammed Kudus went off injured just 19 minutes into proceedings.
Spurs continued to have the better opportunities after the Ghanaian’s departure, and their opener eventually came from a corner on the half-hour mark, when Cristian Romero was afforded the space to bring down the ball and play it to out Micky van de Ven, whose attempt was touched in by Ben Davies on the Spurs stalwart’s first start of the season.
The Black Cats looked for a quick response, but Van de Ven blocked Enzo Le Fée’s speculative attempt and Trai Hume fired over.
But Sunderland’s spirit continued to show after the interval, as Guglielmo Vicario was forced into his first save of the game within four minutes of the restart, when he denied Eliezer Mayenda’s header.
A lax Romero pass then started a move that required Davies to deflect Brian Brobbey’s strike into the side netting, and Simon Adingra guided an attempt marginally wide as Sunderland maintained hope of restoring parity.
With time running short, Randal Kolo Muani saw his shot from a tight angle saved after a blistering move going the other way, as an edginess built up in the atmosphere.
That proved to be warranted too, as just moments after Le Fée had headed against the post, Brobbey linked up with the Frenchman and emphatically smashed his shot past Vicario with nine minutes remaining.
Hume then had his attempt tipped over and there were heated exchanges towards the end, as Sunderland extended their unbeaten run to five matches and ensured that Spurs’ own third consecutive match without a loss will be far less satisfying.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Enzo Le Fée (Sunderland)
Post-match comments
Tottenham boss Thomas Frank to the BBC: "There were a lot of positives in the performance. The first half was much more like we want to do. I liked our intensity with and without the ball, we created a lot of good situations but we lacked the decisiveness to finish the game off.
"The second half was a little more back and forth but we were slightly on top, and still got into those attacking situations where we needed to kill the game off. The positive is the intensity, the negative is we didn't score a second goal.
"When you are working very hard sometimes you get into that momentum where everything clicks and goes your way. Sometimes you have to work very, very hard to get the margins on your side."
Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris to the BBC: "The first half we were a bit flat, without energy. That could be understandable after the Manchester City game, which was really tough and demanding.
"We were probably a bit lucky as we conceded only one goal in the first half. We showed good character to survive and then switch on in the second half and we deserved this result.
"At the end the players believed it was possible and that was the most important, you can think about quality and tactics but it is about belief as well."