The most wasteful Sunderland players of this season so far, according to xG - gallery

For a club who have been plagued by the lack of a reliable centre forward for far, far too long, Sunderland have proven themselves to be no slouches in front of goal this season.

The Black Cats currently top the Championship table heading into the second international break of the campaign, and no side in the second tier has found the back of the net more often than Regis Le Bris’ over the course of these first nine fixtures.

In part, this has been due to the emergence of Eliezer Mayenda and summer signing Wilson Isidor as genuine options at the point of attack, while the ease with which Romaine Mundle has succeeded the departed Jack Clarke has massively aided Sunderland’s cause too.

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Speaking earlier in the season, Le Bris made it clear that he would ideally like his team to contribute goals from all over the pitch - and to a certain extent, that has been the case, with the Black Cats’ 18 strikes so far shared between nine different scorers (with a couple of own goals thrown in for good measure too).

The Sunderland head coach said: “I want to say as well that the striker is not the only player on the pitch who has the responsibility to score. In many teams, the striker could be the only one, but I think in our squad, we need to create the danger from many sides - with the striker, with the wingers, with the offensive midfielders, with the set-pieces as well. When the responsibility is shared it is always more dangerous, and I think for the confidence of the striker, when he doesn’t score for maybe two or three games, it is not a problem, because we have other players with the ability to score.”

But which of his players have been the most efficient in front of goal, and which have been the most wasteful? Stats gurus Whoscored have been keeping track of every Sunderland star’s xG for the 2024/24 Championship campaign, and by finding the difference between the number of strikes that they should have netted compared to the ones they have actually notched, we’ve been able to comprise a full ranking below. Check out our gallery, from least to most wasteful...