Playing in the top-flight for the first time in more than eight years, the Black Cats looked perfectly comfortable in their new surrounds, with a number of the club’s summer signings making an instant impact at the Stadium of Light.
Ultimately, though, it was three of the players who were on Sunderland’s books last season that ensured the new campaign would start in style.
Eliezer Mayenda opened the scoring with a deft header, Dan Ballard made it 2-0 as he reprised his play-off heroics with another thumping header and second-half substitute Wilson Isidor completed the scoring in stoppage time.
It was a remarkable return to the top-flight – and a day that Sunderland supporters will not be forgetting in a long time.
HEY, BIG MAN, WHAT’S YOUR NAME?
Eliezer Mayenda, of course. The Spaniard became a cult hero as Sunderland won promotion last season, with his greatest moment coming at Wembley as he levelled the scores in the play-off final with an excellent finish.
Given that he was struggling to get a game for Hibernian a little over a year ago, could the 20-year-old handle the step into the Premier League? The answer arrived shortly after the hour mark as he claimed his first top-flight goal with a wonderful header.
There was still an awful lot for Mayenda to do when Omar Alderete swung over a cross from the left-hand side, but after easing ahead of his marker, the striker angled a superb header into the far corner.
While the loan signing of Marc Guiu from Chelsea has boosted Sunderland’s attacking options, if the Black Cats are going to flourish this season, they are almost certainly going to need Mayenda and Isidor, who was a second-half substitute, to score reasonably regularly.
Mayenda is up and running, and so too is Isidor after he completed the scoring in the second minute of stoppage time. Chemsdine Talbi sent the substitute racing free down the left, and after stepping into the corner of the area, Isidor curled a composed low finish into the far corner.
MIDFIELD MASTERY
Sunderland’s midfield trio was comprised of three summer signings, with Granit Xhaka playing between Noah Sadiki and Habib Diarra. All three impressed as they slipped seamlessly into life in the Premier League.
Xhaka did exactly what you would expect of him, sitting deep, picking up the ball from his centre-halves and calmly controlling the tempo of Sunderland’s attacking play.
Sadiki was more energetic and industrious, scurrying around to close down opponents and break up West Ham attacks, while Diarra, who just about shaded the Man of the Match honours, was the player looking to break into the West Ham box to threaten the opposition goal.
The summer signing from Strasbourg almost opened the scoring after just six minutes as he picked up Mayenda’s lay-off and fired in a shot that Mads Hermansen did well to save, and his positive running was a key feature of Sunderland’s attacking play all afternoon. He came close again on the hour mark when he fired just over.
While Enzo Le Fee will hope to force his way into the starting line-up at some stage, Regis Le Bris’ current midfield trio complement each other perfectly. As a central unit, they look capable of providing a little bit of everything.
INJURY BLOW
If anyone deserves a bit of good luck with injuries it is surely Jenson Seelt. The Dutch defender has been ravaged by injury issues since joining Sunderland in the summer of 2023, missing more than a year after damaging his ACL.
So, it was especially alarming to see Seelt leave the field in obvious discomfort at the start of the second half, following a bout of treatment on his knee and lower body. On a day of almost unbridled positivity, Seelt’s latest injury setback was the only blow.
The 22-year-old fell awkwardly after being bumped in the air as he leapt to win a header, but tried to continue after some treatment from Sunderland’s medical staff and a brief session of running on the spot on the touchline.
Within two seconds of coming back onto the field though, he was forced to admit defeat as he fell back to the floor with his ability to move freely seriously impaired.
While his replacement, Omar Alderete, will soon be joined by another new defensive recruit in the form of Nordi Mukiele, who is close to completing a permanent move from Paris St Germain, all Sunderland fans will be hoping Seelt has not suffered another serious setback.
A WEARSIDE WELCOME
After an absence of more than eight years, the return of Premier League football to Sunderland was always going to be an emotional occasion.
Sure enough, the pre-match build-up to today’s game did not disappoint. From the moment that the ‘Dance of the Knights’ began to ring around the Stadium of Light, there was a bristling sense of anticipation.
The highlight of the pre-match celebrations was the unveiling of a huge banner at the front of the Roker End portraying the slaying of the Lambton Worm with the words “The man who wins is the man who thinks he can.” After waiting for so long for this moment, the home fans clearly wanted to make sure the players on the pitch knew just how much this meant to the whole of Wearside.
The volume levels erupted when Mayenda opened the scoring and were raised again when Ballard headed home his side’s second. It might not quite have matched the euphoria levels that accompanied the defender’s headed winner against Coventry in May – but it was not far off.
By the time Isidor completed the scoring, it really was party time. “We’re having fun and taking the p*** – we’re top of the league with Regis Le Bris.” Who would have thought that when Sunderland were losing to the likes of Cheltenham and Shrewsbury in League One?
