Sunderland continued their strong start to the Premier League season with a draw against Aston Villa

Roy Keane and Jamie Carragher agreed that Sunderland were worthy of their point against Aston Villa, with the former Black Cats boss praised the home side's strength and power.

Sunderland battled back to earn a 1-1 draw at the Stadium of Light on Sunday despite Reinildo being shown a red card with ten minutes of the first half still left to play. Speaking on Sky Sports Super Sunday, Jamie Carragher criticised Aston Villa for not creating enough chances to win the game despite having a numerical advantage for so long.

"Watkins has got to score at the end," Carragher said.

"We've talked about them not creating chances and not scoring this season, and they still didn't create enough, but he's got to score that and win the game for them. But to be honest, I don't think Aston Villa deserved to win the game. They didn't show enough courage in the changes the manager made, it was just like for like. They had the extra man against a promoted team but they were nowhere near good enough. Eight points from five points for Sunderland. All the teams that have been promoted, we saw Leeds win at Wolves and Burnley pick up a point against Nottingham Forest, we wanted the promoted teams to be more competitive and that's exactly what they've all been this season."

Keane praised Sunderland's reaction to going down to ten men and conceding midway through the second half.

"Sunderland reacted fantastically well," Keane said.

"They've got strength and power. That little touch from Xhaka, that experience... and the striker's finish. Lovely finish. Villa will be kicking themselves, Cash was sleeping. Well deserved from Sunderland, it was a great effort. It's a lovely finish [from Isidor].

Micah Richards added that Aston Villa were 'miles off it' with their performance.

"They need more, everything was too slow," he said.

"I thought they'd pick up the tempo in the second half and it just wasn't there. They didn't create enough, something isn't right. I believe the manager will get it right but at the moment they're miles off it."

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Sky Sports pundits deliver verdict on Reinildo red card

Keane and Richards agreed that while there was relatively little contact from Reinildo on Cash, the decision to send him off was the right one.

"It's difficult [to make a case for the defence]," Keane said.

"Cash, he leaves one on him a little bit but his reaction... I always say you give a referee the chance to send you off. He's given him that opportunity. Cash probably makes a bit of a meal of it [but] I don't think anyone can have too many complaints. He's kicked out."

Richards added: "It's the right decision. I agree with Roy, it's not the worst but you can't react like that. He knows better than that, he's experienced. You can't kick out like that, it's the right decision. It's a red card."

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