After heavy investment in the summer, Steve Bruce had aims on improving on Sunderland’s 13th-placed finish the previous season. With a heavy reliance on Darren Bent in the 2009-10 season, it was hoped that signings such as Danny Welbeck and Asamoah Gyan would lighten the load on the England international.
Despite this, the team had a fairly steady but underwhelming beginning to their campaign. Whilst not losing many games, the team was currently on a six-game draw streak as they welcomed Aston Villa to the Stadium of Light on this day in 2010.
Villa were managed by Gérard Houllier and were the definition of a ‘Barclays’ team when you see the names that were on their team sheet below. They also were not in exactly great form either, with defeats in four of their previous five away games and arriving in the North East off the back of goalless draws last time out.
The patchy form of both sides actually played into making this a decent contest, with both sides showing decent attacking threats from the off. For Sunderland, Steed Malbranque headed wide from Jordan Henderson’s cross before Downing drilled against a post after latching on to Ashley Young’s slide-rule pass.
Sunderland v Aston Villa - Premier League
Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Villa certainly started the game better and felt they should have had a penalty early on when Nigel Reo-Coker was taken down by Titus Bramble in the box. With the Villa appeals waved away, the home side slowly grew in confidence after riding the early storms.
Just before the opening - and solitary - goal of the game arrived, Darren Bent almost connected with another Jordan Henderson centre before the breakthrough arrived. The goal was one that Villa defender Richard Dunne will not reflect fondly on, as Malbranque got the better of Stiliyan Petrov on the right and gleefully looked on as Dunne accidentally volleyed his right-wing cross past Brad Friedel at the near post.
Momentum had swung in Sunderland’s direction, and Ahmed Elmohamady and Danny Welbeck were attempting to add to the first goal, only for Friedel, who was in his typically imperious form in the Aston Villa goal.
With the fact that we had only won one game so far this season, the Stadium of Light became edgy in the second half as Villa became the dominant force in the game. As they made a positive start to the second half, Ashley Young was set up by Downing, only for Cattermole’s challenge to remove some sting from the shot.
Young was also squeezed out by a combination of Onuoha and Sunderland keeper Simon Mignolet, while Villa wasted a glorious opening when Heskey missed Downing’s low cross and Young’s follow-up fizzed wide.
Groans and jeers were deafening in the Stadium of Light as the collective anxiety translated onto the pitch. Late on, Jordan Henderson cleared off our line, along with Richard Dunne almost atoning for his error.
SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 23: Steed Malbranque of Sunderland is congratulated by his team mates after his cross ended up as an own goal by Richard Dunne of Aston Villa during the Barclays Premier League match between Sunderland and Aston Villa at Stadium of Light on October 23, 2010 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 23: Steed Malbranque of Sunderland is congratulated by his team mates after his cross ended up as an own goal by Richard Dunne of Aston Villa during the Barclays Premier League match between Sunderland and Aston Villa at Stadium of Light on October 23, 2010 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
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Late on, Steve Bruce brought on summer signing Asamoah Gyan in the hope that his pace may occupy and stretch the Villa defence, and he almost scored a second Sunderland goal in injury time to finish the game off. In the end, we got the 1-0 win, and whilst we were under the cosh for most of the second half, it appeared that Bruce was happy with his team’s victory.
Seven games unbeaten in the Premier League takes some doing, no matter who you play against, so there is a bit of resilience.
We invested heavily in the back-four and the goalkeeper, and when I look behind me and I have got four people who played in the quarter-finals of the World Cup, and I have got Britain’s most expensive goalkeeper sitting behind me too.
We have got a really good look about us, so I am pleased. There’s a resilience about us, which was the first thing I wanted to try to address when we came here.
Sunderland: Mignolet, Bardsley, Turner, Bramble, Onuoha, Elmohamady, Zenden (90), Henderson, Cattermole, Malbranque (Mensah 82), Welbeck (Gyan 66); Bent. Subs not used: Gordon, da Silva, Riveros, Ferdinand.
Aston Villa: Friedel, Beye, Collins, Dunne, Warnock, Downing, Petrov (Sidwell 40), Reo-Coker, Young, Ireland (Albrighton 55); Heskey. Subs not used: Guzan, Cuéllar, Bannan, Carew, Clark.