North East | Sunderland earn deserved point at Palace

Crystal Palace 0 - 0 Sunderland

Sunderland’s keeper Robin Roefs stood firm to get his side a deserved point.

Author | Lewis Whatley

Stadium | Selhurst Park

The away end at full-time

Both sides struggled to find any rhythm in a drab and underwhelming opening 45 minutes. Palace winger Yeremy Pino looked the most likely to break the deadlock but fired wide on two occasions after finding pockets of space on the edge of the box.

Jean-Philippe Mateta struck the game's first shot on target in the 49th minute, forcing a save out of Robin Roefs with Pino's rebound blocked away for a corner.

That double chance brought about hope of the match sparking into life but Palace were unable to build any momentum and Sunderland never got going.

The Black Cats looked fatigued as the game entered the final 15 minutes and had to rely on Roefs to get away with a share of the points.

A closer analysis of a positive Sunderland performance

Le Bris was aware of the task awaiting Sunderland after their opening away defeat at Burnley, but his side arrived in south London lifted by successive home wins to start the season.

READ MORE | Late drama gives Sunderland the three points

The visitors’ midfield, with Granit Xhaka dictating play, denied Palace space and left the home crowd increasingly agitated with referee Thomas Bramall. Palace’s best opening of the first half came when Daichi Kamada split the defence with a superb pass, only for Pino to steer wide with the goal at his mercy. At the other end, Tyrick Mitchell was sharp to block Chemsdine Talbi at the back post after neat work from Simon Adingra.

It was a subdued contest until early in the second half when Pino produced a dazzling shimmy to glide past Xhaka, lifting the crowd and sparking Palace into life. Moments later he was handed another golden chance after Roefs parried Jean-Philippe Mateta’s volley into his path, but Omar Alderete threw himself in the way to deflect the effort over. The Paraguayan defender was outstanding throughout.

A sudden downpour made conditions treacherous and Wilson Isidor almost capitalised when Palace failed to deal with a long throw, volleying narrowly wide. Fatigue began to tell on the home side as their schedule caught up with them, and Sunderland pressed for a late winner. 

Kamada forced Roefs into a fine save at his near post, while the goalkeeper then denied Mateta with a remarkable header to block his volley from Daniel Muñoz’s cross. Substitute Uche thought he had won it in the closing stages, but Roefs again excelled to keep out Kamada’s follow-up.