Sunderland — Aston Villa finally registered a Premier League goal at the fifth time of asking but a victory remained elusive as they could only draw 1-1 at 10-man Sunderland on Sunday.
Unai Emery’s side were the only team in the top seven divisions in England without a goal before the clash and were hoping to avoid becoming the third team in top-flight history not to score in their first five games.
Matty Cash ended the drought to put his side ahead in the 67th minute with a swerving 25m effort.
But despite being a man down after Reinildo’s red card in the 33rd minute, Sunderland created more chances than Villa and were only behind for eight minutes.
Granit Xhaka’s headed pass found Wilson Isidor and he finished with his right foot.
Villa threatened in the latter stages with Harvey Elliott missing a chance and Ollie Watkins an even better one when he failed to connect properly with Jadon Sancho’s cross.
Sunderland moved to seventh place with eight points while stuttering Villa climbed one spot to 18th with three, but are still in the bottom three.
• Newcastle United were held to a 0-0 draw at Bournemouth in a dull game of few chances as the visitors remain winless on the road.
Though Newcastle kept a third consecutive clean sheet on the road, it was also a third successive goalless draw that left Eddie Howe’s side 13th in the standings with six points while Bournemouth moved up to fourth on 10.
Howe made several changes to his line-up in search of his first league win against his former side, but despite a lively start from both teams, the first half lost momentum with injury stoppages and ended with few clear chances.
Newcastle had a penalty appeal waved away when Nick Woltemade had his shirt tugged, and Justin Kluivert nearly won it for Bournemouth with a free kick in added time, only for Nick Pope to make a fine save.
Reuters
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