In years gone by, parallels could regularly be drawn between Sunderland and Tottenham: football’s ‘nearly men’, the “Why’s it never us?” tandem, the sport’s banter boys — and even the ‘Spursy and Sunderland-y’ reputations that preceded both clubs bore similar traits.
Of course, the North Londoners have been competing in a completely different ballpark to us in recent seasons — both financially and competitively. Yet after our triumphant playoff campaign that sealed a top flight return and Spurs’ Europa League victory which put an end to their sixteen year trophy drought, both clubs appeared to be heading in the right direction as our trajectories aligned once more.
Thankfully, given Spurs’ dismal campaign, any similarity between ourselves and Sunday’s visitors wasn’t carried into this season. In fact, the club’s respective paths couldn’t be more contrasting at present — and that was self-evident on Sunday afternoon
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Following an elongated break during which we bathed in the glory of a derby day win to the point Brian Brobbey’s winner is screen-burned into my memory, we made our long-awaited return to Wearside and with a raft of returning players coming back into the fold — including Nordi Mukiele, Robin Roefs and Reinildo Mandava — it was testament to Régis Le Bris faith in the likes of Luke O’Nien and Chris Rigg, who retained their places in the starting XI.
We were facing a side without a win in fourteen games, and were coming into the game with another new manager, as Roberto De Zerbi took to the hot seat — a situation we’d have made a meal of in a bygone era, and one in which we built that ‘Sunderland-y’ name on.
As far as first halves go, Sunday’s was a pretty open affair for Sunderland and whilst we were certainly the better side, Spurs looked dangerous on the counter, with Richarlison, Randal Kolo Muani and Dominic Solanke finding space to create a string of half chances.
Although we were very much in control for large portions of the early knockings, Spurs were handed the opportunity to draw first blood via the penalty spot after a challenge from Omar Alderete and O’Nien on Kolo Muani. Fortunately, the VAR gods’ intervention meant that the word from the officials was that we’d won the ball — and from replays, we quite clearly had.
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Following the penalty scare, our dominance resumed as we looked to pick off an increasingly shaky Spurs backline and the unconvincing Antonín Kinský, whose surprise inclusion saw both Granit Xhaka and Enzo Le Feé test his credentials from corners.
After the break, we continued to probe.
Granit Xhaka seemed to play a line-breaking, defence-splitting pass every time he got his foot on the ball, with Brobbey’s hold up play once again proving pivotal and allowing Enzo Le Feé, Rigg, and second-half substitute Chemsdine Talbi to get at Spurs.
Just past the hour, another Mukiele foray into the Spurs final third saw our Frenchman unleash a strike on goal, fortuitously taking a deflection as it wrong-footed Antonin Kinsky and broke the deadlock.
From then on in, Spurs, in their conspicuously-yellow Stabilo Boss highlighter-themed kit, demonstrated just why they were in the mess they’re in, amid a limp effort to restore parity.
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While Pedro Porro forced Roefs into action late on, it was a solid return to Premier League football for us, as we successfully protected our one-goal advantage and claimed another three points.
This was another efficient display from Sunderland; one that sees us inch closer to a shot at European football next term — a phrase that’s still so surreal to say out loud.
With the emphasis being very much on Spurs to pull a result out of the bag, this had the potential to be a real banana skin. Additionally, this match was a real indicator as to how we’re going to approach the remainder of the season, having achieved our pre-season objectives.