How Manchester United's Amad Diallo eventually got the better of Arsenal man as Sunderland beat Birmingham

In fact, the Manchester United man came directly up against 24-year-old Arsenal defender Auston Trusty, who has been one of Birmingham’s standout performers this season.

It was a fascinating battle as Amad drifted in from the right flank and linked up play with Patrick Roberts, with Sunderland right-back Lynden Gooch also looking to get forward.

For most of the first half, Trusty did a good job to limit that threat, making nine interceptions in total (according to Wyscout) and seven in the first 45 minutes.

While Sunderland were dominating possession, most of it was in their own half as Birmingham closed their opponents down quickly when the ball was played forward.

Amad did receive plenty of touches of the ball, though, even if he was forced to drop deep at times while completing 43 of his 48 attempted passes (90%).

That included eight passes into the final third and some neat exchanges with Roberts, yet Sunderland once again lacked a cutting edge up top.

Still, Birmingham and Trusty will have known all about the threat Amad posed, after the forward cut in from the right to beat the Blues defender and score back in November’s reverse fixture - also a 2-1 win for the Black Cats.

It was a case of Deja vu here.

While Amad completed just one of his three attempted dribbles at the Stadium of Light, the one which was successful proved significant.

It came after the game had opened up in the closing stages and Jack Clarke switched the ball from left to right with an excellent lofted pass.

Amad was in space but had Trusty and retreating Birmingham midfielder Hannibal Mejbri inside of him. In the end, Mejbri only ended up getting in his team-mate’s way, briefly obstructing Trusty as Amad darted inside with some brilliant footwork.

There was still plenty to do, yet that was all the Sunderland man needed as he wrapped his foot around the ball and drilled a low effort past goalkeeper John Ruddy to win the match.

It’s not the first time Sunderland supporters, or Birmingham fans for that matter, have seen such quality from the Manchester United loanee.