Granit Xhaka scored his first Sunderland goal as the Black Cats came from behind to draw with Everton and move up to fourth place in the Premier League.
Everton started brightly and led through Iliman Ndiaye’s fine solo goal – picking the ball up on the right before beating several defenders and leaving the goalkeeper rooted to the spot.
The Toffees were well on top, with Jack Grealish hitting the post, until Thierno Barry missed a sitter from three yards out in the 28th minute – and suddenly everything changed.
Sunderland took control of the game.
Xhaka scored their equaliser early in the second half with a deflected strike from 20 yards out after Enzo le Fee’s effort was blocked.
The Black Cats had the game’s next 16 shots after that Barry miss – but could not find a winner.
Sunderland are back in the Champions League places, more than a quarter of the way through the season, while Everton move above Fulham into 14th.
Sunderland analysis: Black Cats come back again as Xhaka shines
Granit Xhaka (left) last scored in the Premier League for Arsenal in May 2023
Former Arsenal captain Xhaka has been a sensational summer signing for Sunderland from Bayer Leverkusen, leading the way in a whole list of statistics for the team.
And now he has a goal to add to that after another hugely impressive performance.
But this was a team effort and they were unlucky not to win, which would have taken them second.
It was a remarkable in-game turnaround as they were being completely overrun, losing their heads and could have been behind by more with 30 minutes on the clock.
But between the 28th and 85th minutes they had all 16 shots.
Not many were clear-cut efforts admittedly – there were few moments where you felt they had to score – but they have now come from losing positions to grab eight points this season.
Everton analysis: Striking issues crop up again
Everton have two strikers – with a combined one goal.
Beto – who has that goal – usually starts, and Barry usually comes on. This time they switched it around with Barry starting before being replaced by Beto early in the second half.
It did not make a difference.
And Barry, a £27m summer signing from Villarreal, really should have got his first goal in English football when Grealish picked him out with a cross which he skied over from inside the six-yard box.
Everton could have been two or three goals clear by then – with Grealish having hit the post earlier.
After that Barry miss it all just stopped. Their only other chance came in the closing moments through Vitalii Mykolenko.
Everton, managed by ex-Black Cats boss David Moyes, now have one win in their past eight matches.
