Sunderland marked their Premier League return in style with a 3-0 victory over West Ham United at the Stadium of Light.
Cheered on by a jubilant crowd, the Black Cats ensured their first game back in the top flight after an eight-year absence was a memorable one with a sensational second-half showing.
Eliezer Mayenda sent the home fans into bedlam with a towering header just after the hour, before Dan Ballard – one of Sunderland’s playoff heroes – doubled their lead.
Substitute Wilson Isidor then rounded out a magnificent day for Regis Le Bris’ side with a cool finish in the second minute of stoppage time.
While Sunderland can now celebrate a brilliant start to their Premier League comeback, the resounding defeat saw West Ham join Burnley, who were also beaten 3-0, at the foot of the early standings.
How the match unfolded
Buoyed on by a fervent atmosphere, Sunderland had an early opening when new boy Habib Diarra played a one-two with Mayenda and found himself inside the box, but his effort was well saved by Mads Hermansen.
El Hadji Malick Diouf was denied a goal on his competitive West Ham debut when an outstretched Ballard blocked his powerful, goal-bound strike from the edge of the box.
Yet the moment Sunderland fans had been waiting for arrived in the 61st minute, as Mayenda rose to meet Omar Alderete’s cross and steer a superb header into the bottom-left corner.
Ballard then demonstrated his prowess in an attacking sense when he thumped in another fantastic header 12 minutes later, having latched onto Simon Adingra’s deflected delivery.
Sunderland’s new goalkeeper Robin Roefs made an excellent save to prevent Isidor scoring an own goal and setting up a grandstand finish, the striker made his team-mate’s good work count when he raced through and slotted calmly into the right-hand corner to cap off a glorious day for the Black Cats.
Sunderland’s dream start
It has been a busy off-season for Sunderland, who are hoping they have built a squad capable of staying up, and this result proves they are certainly here to compete.
Despite seven new faces in the line-up, it was three of last season’s top performers that have got the ball rolling on what Sunderland will hope is a season in which they can defy the doubters.
Mayenda led the line tirelessly, and got his reward with that sublime header. Ballard has so often been Sunderland’s man for the big moments, and it was fitting that he then got on the scoresheet to send the Stadium of Light faithful into delirium. But perhaps just as important was the defender’s crucial block to deny Diouf in the first half.
Last season’s top scorer Isidor then climbed off the bench to make his mark in the Premier League.
Diarra, meanwhile, was lively on his debut, while Granit Xhaka brought plenty of experience – not to mention grit – in the middle of the match; exactly what he was brought in for.
Jenson Seelt was forced to make way early in the second half after a clash with Lucas Paqueta, but Le Bris will no doubt be delighted with how his team reacted to that loss as Sunderland now look ahead to facing fellow promoted team Burnley at Turf Moor.
Potter needs to work some magic
Graham Potter’s time at West Ham has been turbulent so far, but after a solid pre-season, he would have been looking for his side to make a statement that this campaign is going to be much better than the last.
On Saturday’s evidence, though, there is still an awful lot of work for Potter to do.
Potter could point to his team having the better of the chances in the first half, and matters might have been different had Jarrod Bowen made the most of a pair of early opportunities, though both he and fellow attacker Niclas Fullkrug were kept quiet in the second half.
Callum Wilson came on from the bench to cause some trouble late on, but the Hammers were caught short defensively for Sunderland’s first two goals, despite having plenty of numbers in the box.
They will need to significantly improve if they are to get a positive result when they host Chelsea in their next outing.
Club reports
Sunderland report | West Ham report
What the managers said
Regis Le Bris: "Happy for the club, the organisation, the players and our fans. To come back into the Premier League with this connection with our fans is impressive.
"West Ham started well, they are more experienced. We were probably a bit shy in the first half and needed some time to connect with this level.
"It was much better in the second half, with the energy of the squad and the togetherness and we found a solution."
Graham Potter: "Very disappointing. The second half was not good from us in terms of the basics. First half was quite good, we controlled the crowd and were unfortunate not to score. The first goal was always going to be important.
"Basics of football we have to really improve."
Next fixtures
Key facts
Sunderland ended a run of eight league matches against West Ham without a win (D4 L4), gaining their first victory against the Hammers since January 2013 (also 3-0).
Sunderland are the first team to have three players score on their Premier League debut in the same match since Reading against Middlesborough in August 2006 (Dave Kitson, Steve Sidwell and Leroy Lita).
West Ham (902) became the fourth team to concede 900 away goals in the Premier League, after Everton (925), Spurs (922) and Newcastle (912), with the Hammers doing so in the fewest number of matches (556).
At 24 years 34 days, Sunderland's starting XI was their youngest in a Premier League match since April 2011 against Wigan Athletic (23yrs 318d) and the second youngest by a promoted side on their first game of the season in the competition, behind Burnley v Manchester City in 2023/24 (23y 206d).