Sunderland thumps West Ham in sensational return
Sunderland marked its Premier League return in style with a 3-0 victory over West Ham United at The Stadium of Light.
After an eight-year absence from the top flight, Sunderland made light work of the Hammers thanks to a superb second-half showing.
Despite a glut of new signings making their competitive debuts for the Black Cats, it was a trio of old faces that did the job.
Eliezer Mayenda sent the home fans into bedlam with a towering header just after the hour, before Dan Ballard – one of Sunderland’s play-off heroes – doubled the lead 12 minutes later.
Substitute Wilson Isidor then rounded out a magnificent day for Regis Le Bris' side with a cool finish in stoppage-time.
Matters may have been different for West Ham had Ballard not made a brilliant block to deny El Hadji Malick Diouf in the first half, while Robin Roefs also made a fantastic save to prevent a grandstand finish just before Wilson made sure of the three points.
Le Bris was thrilled with how his team stuck to the identity it forged in the second tier last term.
He said: “It’s really important for two reasons, showed they can step up.
“We’ll see later, but today it was really important because they kept the identity of the club and the way we worked last season. We built this strength on togetherness, the way we work as a team. The players worked well as a team and they showed that again today.
“We didn’t change many important things at half-time. We spoke a bit about their goalkeeper restarts and our high press, we went for man for man, and they found two or three opportunities with long balls. So, it was really important to be strong in duels. We made just two or three little decisions, and it made a difference.”
West Ham boss Graham Potter, meanwhile, lamented a number of opportunities that went begging for his team in the first half.
“I was happy with our performance in the first half, we started things well, unlucky not to score, we quietened the crowd and felt in control,” he said.
“In the second half we started slowly, a bit stop, start. Then the goal comes from an action which we have to do better with, the cross has come from too far and there’s a free header.
“That little lift you give the home team, it was too big for us and we tried to respond and get back in the game and conceded another, a cheap one.”
