Sunderland 0-0 Leeds United: bottom club holds out for a rare point at the Stadium of Light

Sunderland and Leeds United shared a goalless draw at the Stadium of Light, a game with few clear openings for either side. The point matters more to the hosts: it is only Sunderland's second clean sheet of the season and ends a run of four straight Premier League defeats for the bottom club.

The game produced three bookings and little in the way of clear-cut chances. Ethan Ampadu was the first into the book, on 29 minutes, followed by Sunderland's Reinildo Mandava ten minutes later and Leeds' Jayden Bogle just after the hour. Neither goalkeeper, Robin Roefs for Sunderland or James Trafford for Leeds, was seriously troubled enough to be called the busier of the two.

Bookings

• 29' — Ethan Ampadu (Leeds United) — yellow
• 39' — Reinildo Mandava (Sunderland) — yellow
• 67' — Jayden Bogle (Leeds United) — yellow

Teams

Régis Le Bris set Sunderland up in a 4-2-3-1: Robin Roefs in goal behind Luke O'Nien, Nordi Mukiele, Reinildo Mandava and Trai Hume, with Enzo Le Fée and Noah Sadiki holding in front of them, and Granit Xhaka, Brian Brobbey, Nilson Angulo and Chris Rigg given the licence to create. Tymur Tutierov, Omar Alderete, Chemsdine Talbi and Habib Diarra were introduced from the bench.

Daniel Farke lined Leeds up in a 3-4-2-1: James Trafford in goal behind a back three of Jaka Bijol, Tarik Muharemovic and James Justin, a four of Ao Tanaka, Ethan Ampadu, Gabriel Gudmundsson and Jayden Bogle across midfield, and Brenden Aaronson and Harry Wilson supporting Dominic Calvert-Lewin up front. Noah Okafor, Lukas Nmecha, Anton Stach and Sean Longstaff came on in the second half.

A stop to Sunderland's losing run

Régis Le Bris's side arrived on the back of four consecutive Premier League defeats — against Arsenal, Manchester City, Brighton & Hove Albion and AFC Bournemouth — scoring only three goals and conceding eleven across that run. A point against Leeds does not change where Sunderland sit, but it stops the bleeding after a month in which they had looked the division's weakest side.

A third draw in five for Leeds

For Leeds, this is a third draw in their last five league matches, with only a 1-2 loss at Arsenal breaking up the sequence: a 4-1 win over Newcastle United and a goalless draw with Crystal Palace came before that defeat, a 1-1 draw at Manchester United came after it, and now this stalemate at Sunderland. It is a solid, unspectacular return for Daniel Farke's side, built on a defence that has conceded only six goals in seven matches.

What's next

Sunderland stayed bottom of the table on 4 points from seven games, two points off 17th place and the start of safety. Leeds sat 8th on 10 points, level with Brentford and Everton and firmly in the division's mid-table pack. A single point does little to change Sunderland's outlook, but a clean sheet is at least a building block Régis Le Bris can point to after a difficult month.