Sunderland battled back to take a point against Aston Villa at the Stadium of Light

It's hard to imagine Sunderland will earn a better point this season.

They played an almost an hour here with ten men, and somehow hauled themselves back off the canvas to score a deserved equaliser. The Black Cats had been the match of Aston Villa before Reinildo's red card just after the half hour mark and despite understandably ceding the lion's share oif possession thereafter, they battled impressively and used set pieces to present an attacking threat of their own.

In the end, they deserved to leave with their unbeaten home record intact.

It's a game that will leave Sunderland with pride and also a little frustration. given how comfortable and composed they had been through the opening exchanges.

True enough they had created few clear chances, but they handled the unexpected setback of losing Habib Diarra to injury the day before the game with real ease. Handed a debut against a top-six side last season, Chris Rigg started brightly and was the heart of some clever play. Wilson Isidor headed a good early cross from Chemsdine Talbi wide of the near post under pressure from Ezri Konsa, who then did well to block an effort from the Sunderland striker after a nice pass from Rigg into the heart of the box.

It wasn't dominant play from the hosts, but they'd shaded the opening exchanges and most importantly given up few chances. Aston Villa did spurn a big opening when Sunderland struggled to deal with a free kick into the heart of the box, Rogers left to pass into the feet of Guessand. The forward spun but drove straight at Roefs, who stood tall to make the block.

It was by the far the biggest chance either side had fashioned before Reinildo's red, kicking out with Matty Cash with both feet after the right back arrived late to a challenge and pushed him to the floor. There wasn't a great deal of contact, but there was no surprise at all when the referee brought out a red card. Le Bris acted quickly, switching to a back three and introducing Dan Ballard at Rigg's expense. The youngster was understandably gutted as he left the pitch.

Aston Villa began the second half controlling possession, but is says much about Sunderland's organisation and resilience that they created the best openings of the first five minutes after the break. A dangerous long throw helps, too, of course. Nordi Mukiele's defensive attributes had been on full display through the game but his delivery was also a big attacking threat, Sunderland unlucky not to take the lead when Omar Alderete headed a loose ball onto the crossbar. Martinez was well beaten. The set plays had a duel purpose for the hosts, a genuine attacking weapon but also taking valuable time out of the game.

Sunderland looked in decent order when the opener came, but were too slow to close the space down as a corner was worked short to Matty Cash in space. He struck his effort well and it swerved late, but having had a decent sighting of the effort and got both fists on the ball, Robin Roefs will have felt it was one he should have saved. It was a rare blemish from a goalkeper who had again been excellent in his game.

Sunderland, though, just kept going. They took risks in jumping out to mark man-for-man but they found an opposition making errors. They equalised before long when Chemsdine Talbi's speculative shot was blocked. Aston Villa inexplicably switched off, Granit Xhaka's clever header fired home by Isidor.

Aston Villa pushed late and had big chances to win it. The craft of Harvey Elliott and the threat of Jadon Sancho out wide had offered the visitors another dimension, and the former should have scored when Xhaka was robbed in the box and he drove his effort just wide of the far post. Sancho then put a wonderful cross to the back post with just a minute or so to play, but neither Watkins nor Cash could convert.

Sunderland held out, thanks mainly to titantic performances from the defensive trio of Mukiele, Ballard and Alderete.

Sunderland held out, another impressive performance in their strong start to the season. It might be their most impressive one to date, given the circumstances.