60 touches six duels won, seven crosses: Khazri shows worth on return

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Wahbi Khazri made a positive impression in his first Premier League start of the season.

With Adnan Januzaj and Steven Pienaar out due to injury, Wahbi Khazri made his first Premier League start under David Moyes, and the Tunisian showed glimpses of why he should have been given a chance sooner.

The mdifielder played a big part in Sunderland’s survival last season, but has struggled for game time under new boss Moyes, with new signings and youngsters seemingly ahead of Khazri in the pecking order in the opening weeks.

Khazri got his chance in the 1-1 draw with West Bromwich Albion and Sunderland’s number 10 appeared to offer more than the players who had replaced him earlier in the season.

While it was not a perfect performance from Khazri, his work at both ends of the pitch, combined with his crossing ability makes him surely a more valuable player to Moyes than loanee Januzaj.

Khazri gained a reputation last year for doing a great job of helping his full back, and in the game against West Brom he won six duels.

The attacking player managed to create two chances for Sunderland, with only Duncan Watmore having a better record, claiming the assist for Patrick van Aanholt’s equaliser.

One of Khazri’s best attributes is his crossing ability, and he managed to put seven balls into the West Brom box, and a bit more work on the training ground for Sunderland could see them benefit from the Tunisia international’s delivery.

He was able to get on the ball 60 times, with over 75% of his passes finding a red and white shirt, but the one concerning stat is that only six of those passes went forward.

Sunderland need to become a more creative force if they are to get out of trouble, but Khazri’s performance against West Brom gave the Black Cats supporters a small piece of hope coming out of the game.