Wilson Isidor off the bench, Fulham without a shot on target: Sunderland 1-0 Fulham

This was not a game of many chances, and Sunderland took the one that mattered. Wilson Isidor, on as a substitute, turned in Diarra's cross on 75 minutes at the Stadium of Light.

It is Sunderland's first win since returning to the Premier League, after an opening-day loss at Ipswich. Fulham, beaten 3-2 at home by Chelsea a week ago, now have two defeats from two under Álvaro Arbeloa.

Fulham had the ball and nothing sharp

Fulham held 58.6% possession and passed it around well enough, but did not force the Sunderland goalkeeper into a single save — zero shots on target across 90 minutes. Sunderland's 1.75 xG to 1.02 matched the run of play.

Match facts

• 75' — Wilson Isidor (Sunderland), assisted by Diarra

What's next

Sunderland climb to 11th on 3 points. Fulham stay on 0 points in 16th, three places above the relegation zone but already under pressure. Matchweek 3 takes Sunderland to Brentford, while Fulham host Crystal Palace at Craven Cottage in a game both sides will see as a must-win.

How the rest of Sunderland's opening five went

That night at the Stadium of Light stayed Sunderland's only win from their opening five league matches. The promoted side had started with a 2-1 loss at Ipswich Town, undone by a stoppage-time winner from Jack Clarke, a player who used to score for Sunderland himself. After beating Fulham, Régis Le Bris's team drew 1-1 at Brentford through an Enzo Le Fée penalty, lost 0-2 at home to Arsenal after David Raya saved a Le Fée spot-kick of his own, and then conceded five at Manchester City despite a Brian Brobbey hat-trick in a 5-3 defeat. One win, one draw and three losses from five games left Sunderland on four points.

Fulham's longer wait for a first win

Fulham's search for a first Premier League win under Álvaro Arbeloa went on much longer than Sunderland's did. The opening-day 2-3 loss to Chelsea was followed by this 1-0 defeat at the Stadium of Light, then a 2-3 home loss to Crystal Palace in which Fulham had led 2-1 through Josh King and César Palacios before Tyrick Mitchell's second goal and a Ben Chilwell strike turned it around. A goalless draw at Liverpool brought a first point, and a 1-1 draw at home to Manchester United — Lisandro Martínez's own goal cancelled out by a late, deflected Matheus Cunha equaliser — brought a second. Five games into the season, Fulham were still without a win.

Isidor's recurring role

Wilson Isidor's impact on Sunderland's season did not stop at the winning touch against Fulham. Three matchweeks later, at Brentford, it was a foul on Isidor inside the box that won Sunderland the penalty Le Fée converted for a 1-1 draw. The two moments, three weeks apart, are the closest thing Sunderland had to a repeat source of goals in a season otherwise short on them.

Where the table stands now

Those results have pulled the two sides apart. Sunderland sit 14th in the Premier League table on four points from five games, with six goals scored and ten conceded. Fulham are 19th on two points, above only Tottenham Hotspur, having scored five and conceded eight. Neither side has moved far from where this result at the Stadium of Light first left them — Sunderland with something to build on, Fulham still chasing the win that got away from them here.