Sunderland host Aston Villa at the Stadium of Light on Sunday afternoon

Jeff Stelling has backed Sunderland to continue their fine start to the Premier League season with a draw against Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon.

The Black Cats return to the Stadium of Light this weekend having taken seven points from their first four outings of the campaign. Last time out, Regis Le Bris’ men fought their way to a 0-0 stalemate against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, and are still unbeaten on home soil having secured victories over West Ham and Brentford in the opening weeks of the campaign.

For their part, Villa have endured a difficult start to their league season, and are still yet to score a goal in the top flight this term. Two draws and two losses have left them 19th in the table, while in the Carabao Cup, they were dumped out of the competition on penalties by Brentford on Tuesday evening.

What has Jeff Stelling said about Sunderland’s Premier League clash vs Aston Villa this weekend?

And looking ahead to this weekend’s contest on Wearside, renowned broadcaster Stelling has suggested that Villa will extend both their winless and goalless streak against Sunderland.

Speaking to talkSPORT, he said: “On Sunday at two o'clock, it's Sunderland against Aston Villa. Villa are the only team in the top seven leagues in England without a goal so far. In fact, in their last game at Everton, they managed just one shot on target.

“Admittedly, that was one shot more than Sunderland managed at Crystal Palace in what was a goalless draw. Villa are bound to come good eventually. If Sunderland are to get anything from this, I feel they have to be resilient once again. If they are, and I think they will be, I see this ending goalless. I'm going Sunderland 0-0 Aston Villa.”

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What did Regis Le Bris say about Sunderland’s draw against Crystal Palace?

Speaking after the final whistle in South London last weekend, Sunderland head coach Le Bris said: “Every game is a unique challenge, and this game against Crystal Palace, away, we knew before that it was probably the toughest challenge from the beginning of the season.

“I think we had two different parts in that game. The first one we showed good quality with the ball, the second one was a bit different, like expected, because it was clear that they were able to create and generate momentum through set-pieces, through direct play, through counter-attacks, especially with [Jean-Philippe] Mateta, because they are really smart and efficient in this way of playing. So they generated this momentum, but we were able to work together, to defend together, to make saves, to block the balls, and I think it's an important part of the performance.”

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