Aston Villa vs Sunderland. Premier League.
Villa ParkAttendance35,399.
Saturday 29 August 2015 21:19, UK
Jeremain Lens struck his first Sunderland goal as Aston Villa had to settle for a 2-2 draw.
The visitors had led through Yann M'Vila's fine early free-kick but though Scott Sinclair's double had put the hosts in the driving seat before the break, Lens' second-half strike ensured the spoils were shared.
Neither side established superiority in midfield initially but Sunderland stole a march in the eighth minute when Jordan Amavi's clumsy foul allowed M'Vila to whip home a dreamy 25-yard set-piece at the near post - leaving Brad Guzan with no chance.
The home side's response was impressive, though, and they were level three minutes later when Lee Cattermole bundled Sinclair over at a corner. The forward was quickly up to arrow the equaliser in to the corner from the penalty spot.
Villa began to assert themselves with some more assured passing and when Sinclair's second arrived four minutes before the interval, it was clinically taken.
Amavi - impressive going forward down the left - found the space to race towards the by-line on the counter-attack and provide a pacy low cross for Sinclair, who easily tucked in to the roof of the net from five yards.
Sunderland manager Dick Advocaat introduced Steven Fletcher and debutant Nils Ola Toivonen at the interval, and the latter had an immediate impact as his size and movement won the visitors some midfield initiative.
The on-loan Swede played a key role in the Black Cats' leveller, robbing Carlos Sanchez of possession and feeding the ball out to Lens, who ghosted inside Ciaran Clark's over-zealous challenge and found the middle of the net from 12 yards via a deflection off Micah Richards.
It was Villa's turn to respond, and respond they did - spending much of the remainder of the game camped in Sunderland's half.
Probably the hosts' best chance to win the game came just before the hour, when Richards set them in motion with a strong challenge and fed the ball wide before charging in to the box. He met Sinclair's centre when just two yards from goal but could only divert wide.
Recent £6m arrival Rudy Gestede, who was largely anonymous in the first half, then spurned several further opportunities to take all three points as he sent a glancing header and a low 18-yard shot the wrong side of the post.
In between, there were appeals for a Villa penalty when lively substitute Carles Gil went down under a Younes Kaboul challenge, but the referee ruled the Spaniard had gone to ground too easily and booked him for diving.
Charlie Nicholas' Soccer Saturday verdict
"Aston Villa should have won it. Sunderland came back into it in the second half with the double change a half time but for me it was about missed opportunities for Aston Villa.
"It was a decent game without star quality. I think Dick Advocaat will be chuffed with 2-2. But [Lee] Cattermole - the one they relied upon last season - has been substituted after 30 minutes or so and again at half time for the second. I think his days are numbered under Advocaat."
Player ratings
Aston Villa: Guzan (6); Hutton (7), Clark (5), Richards (7), Amavi (7); Sanchez (5), Westwood (6), Gueye (6); Bacuna (5), Sinclair (8); Gestede (4)
Subs: Gil (7)
Sunderland: Pantilimon (7), Jones (6), O'Shea (6), Kaboul (6), Van Aanholt (6); M'Vila (7) Cattermole (4), Rodwell (4), Lens (6); Graham (4), Defoe (5)
Subs: Toivonen (8), Fletcher (6), Larsson (5)
Man of the match: Scott Sinclair
