Sunderland 0-0 Swansea City
- Published
Sunderland without a win in seven league games
Swansea avoid third straight league defeat
Swansea defender Rangel Angel sent off
Sunderland miss late chances to win
Sunderland are still looking for their first Premier League win of the season after a dour stalemate with Swansea.
The Black Cats have drawn five of their first six games, while Swansea gained a first point in three matches despite Angel Rangel's late red card.
Rangel was booked after an hour and earned his second caution for a foul on Will Buckley with 10 minutes to go.
Connor Wickham and substitute Steven Fletcher almost won it for Sunderland late on but both headed off target.
Neither player has scored in the Premier League this season to underline the problem facing Gus Poyet's side.
Wickham's burst of five goals in three games towards the end of last season was instrumental in Sunderland staying up.
Sunderland - Premier League draw specialists | |
---|---|
Gus Poyet's men have drawn five out of six league games this season | |
27 Sep: Swansea (h) D0-0 | 30 Aug: QPR (a) L0-1 |
20 Sep: Burnley (a) D0-0 | 24 Aug: Man Utd (h) D1-1 |
13 Sep: Tottenham (h) D2-2 | 16 Aug: West Brom (a) D2-2 |
They won four games in a row - including at Chelsea and Manchester United - to complete a remarkable escape.
That run was ended on the final day of the season by Swansea and Sunderland have not been able to win since.
The Swans have been something of a bogey side, losing to the Black Cats only once in the Premier League in seven games.
And they frustrated the Wearsiders again to stop the rot after two league defeats - but rarely threatened Sunderland keeper Vito Mannone with Bafetimbi Gomis, preferred to Wilfried Bony, unable to claim his first Premier League goal.
Lukasz Fabianski was slightly busier at the other end, saving well at the foot of a post early on from Adam Johnson, who connected with a well-struck angled shot.
The former Arsenal keeper then made another alert stop to turn away a header from Santiago Vergini.
Defender Vergini clipped Wayne Routledge in the box just after half-time when the Swans winger might have had a penalty.
But neither side created anything clear-cut until the final 15 minutes.
Wickham should have done better with a heading chance from Seb Larsson cross but put his effort over the top.
And Sunderland then pressed for a late winner after Angel had been dismissed.
The defender was cautioned for throwing the ball away after an hour and then picked up a further caution for blocking off Buckley.
And three minutes later substitute Fletcher headed wide from Ricardo Alvarez's cross to keep Sunderland waiting for their first three points.
Sunderland manager Gus Poyet: "What do we have to do to win a football game? We did everything.
"We were the better team 11 v 11. We created chances and we were the team looking to get that winning goal.
"When they had a man sent off it was even more like that but we can't put the ball in the net and take advantage of our game."
Swansea manager Gary Monk: "It was definitely a good point the way the game panned out and going down to 10 men.
"I think the first booking was for throwing the ball away and the second one was 50-50. Sometimes it's a yellow and sometimes it's not but with this referee today I thought it would definitely be a yellow and so I can't complain."
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