A Steven Fletcher brace and Jordi Gomez strike saw Sunderland win 3-1 at Crystal Palace to lift themselves out of the Premier League’s relegation zone.
Costel Pantilimon 7/10 – Replacing the under-fire Vito Mannone, it was a solid Sunderland debut for the big Romanian, who made a world class save to deny Marouane Chamakh on 55 minutes, only for Wes Brown to deflect the ball past him seconds later.
Anthony Reveillere 7/10 – Another debutant, the Frenchman was forced to switch over to left-back after Van Aanholt came off with an injury, but did a fairly decent job restricting Palace’s attacks on either flank. Should keep his spot in the line-up moving forward.
Santiago Vergini 4.5/10 – An extremely shaky performance, as he was fortunate not to concede a penalty within the opening 25 seconds. Moved to right-back after the defensive reshuffle and did not look comfortable in the slightest.
John O’Shea 7/10 – Defended stoutly and led by example to keep Frazier Campbell in check for the 90 minutes.
Patrick van Aanholt 6/10 – Dealt with Zaha well and provided the cross for Fletcher’s 31st-minute opener, before what looked like a dislocated shoulder forced his withdrawal.
Sebastian Larsson 6/10 – Didn’t do much on the ball, but his defensive shift helped keep pressure off Sunderland’s back-four.
Lee Cattermole 6/10 – Full of running, but had a hard time preventing Palace from dominating possession for long stretches. Was booked, of course.
Jordi Gomez 7/10 – Went a bit missing for most of the game, but then provided a moment of brilliance 11 minutes from the end with a driving low shot from outside the area to put the visitors ahead for good.
Will Buckley 6/10 – Did get the assist for Gomez’s goal, but otherwise made little impact on the night.
Steven Fletcher 8/10 – Took his chances either side of half-time, heading the ball across Speroni for the first, before stroking home deep into added-time to seal all three points.
Connor Wickham 6/10 – Worked a solid shift in the channels but not the attacking threat he was towards the end of last season.
SUBSTITUTES
Wes Brown (Van Aanholt 37) 5/10 – A comical own goal to follow last week’s blunder against Arsenal. Still, at least he still has all that silverware he won at Old Trafford.
Jozy Alitdore (Wickham 78) – Couldn’t make an impact, but doubt that would have been much different if he’d been on from the start.
Liam Bridcutt (Buckley 80) – A successful 10 minutes on the pitch, as he robbed Jason Puncheon in the Palace half at the death and fed Fletcher for the third.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
