Key events
22 min The wind is making it difficult for both teams to find their rhythm or apply any sustained pressure. There is nothing else to say. Nothing.
18 min Mukiele goes down holding his face after being caught by the outstretched arm of Calvert-Lewin. There was nothing in it really – a “careless arm” in the words of VAR.
17 min After a slow start, Sunderland are having a good spell of extended possession. Both teams are trying to turn the opposition defence, a sensible approach given the awkwardness of the wind.
15 min Ampadu’s long throw causes a bit of chaos before the referee gives Sunderland a free-kick.
14 min Mukiele has a pop from 30 yards, hoping the wind might do him a favour. Alas, it’s well off target.
13 min Empathic cheers from the home fans as Harry Wilson limps away after wearing a defensive clearance on his bare flesh. At least they’re not playing with a Mitre Mouldmaster.
11 min Wild is the wind at the Stadium of Light, which is making life awkward for attackers and defenders alike. O’Nien misreads a long ball, which almost allows Calvert-Lewin to burst through on goal. O’Nien recovers well and the danger is cleared.
9 min “Thanks for the Sunderland v Leeds FA Cup final report, which took me way back to the first time I watched a whole game of football on live tv,” writes Justan Kavanagh. “It seemed so vivid and colourful. I also remember my dad’s rather colourful language when Jim Montgomery pulled off his double-save. I even remember the ball being yellow, which seemed very exotic in those dun, brown days of the mid-70s. The other thing I remember about football around 1973 is that Manchester United went down the following year. Which would be unthinkable now… oh, wait!”
8 min Brobbey hits a deflected shot on the turn from the edge of the area, forcing Trafford to dive to his right and smuggle it round the post. The spin made for a slightly awkward save from Trafford, but he got the ball out of harm’s way.
5 min Bogle’s cross evades Aaronson, under pressure from a Sunderland defender at the far post. Leeds have started really well, with their wing-backs heavily involved in the final third.
3 min Bogle shoots well wide from 20 yards after a nice little run infield. Leeds have started positively.
1 min Peep peep! Leeds, in their yellow change strip, kick off from left to right as we watch.
Prokofiev is on the tannoy at the Stadium of Light, which means the teams are about to take the field.
Sunderland (4-2-3-1) Roefs; Hume, Mukiele, O’Nien, Mandava; Xhaka, Sadiki; Angulo, Rigg, Le Fee; Brobbey.
Subs: Ellborg, Methalie, Talbi, Alderete, Diarra, Ahoka, Fofana, Juan Angulo, Tutierov.
Leeds (3-4-2-1) Trafford; Justin, Bijol, Muharemovic; Bogle, Ampadu, Tanaka, Gudmundsson; Wilson, Aaronson; Calvert-Lewin.
Subs: Zetterer, Longstaff, Nmecha, Stach, Okafor, Bahoya, Bard, Gruev, Cresswell.
Referee Stuart Attwell.
Jamie Jackson
Match report: Man Utd 0-3 Bournemouth
After Bruno Fernandes was dropped for “pure football” reasons – according to Michael Carrick – could Manchester United actually win a game of football?
The answer, again, was a resounding, humiliating no, and if the manager’s job remains in real peril, you have to wonder, too, if this beleaguered team should steel itself for a relegation dogfight. They lack imagination, cohesion, fight, confidence, and anything resembling joy and so now hovering a point above the drop zone, survival cannot be taken for granted.
Andy Hunter
Match report: Liverpool 2-0 Brighton
Brighton’s emphatic run was blown off course at Anfield as Liverpool moved up to fourth with an appetite and urgency at both ends of the pitch that showed Andoni Iraola’s methods taking root. It is Liverpool, convincing winners on home soil for the first time this season in the Premier League, who looked upwardly mobile.
Florian Wirtz was instrumental in an opening goal officially credited to Brighton’s Pascal Gross and Alexander Isak converted his sixth league goal of the campaign to shatter the visitors’ sequence of four successive Premier League wins. Brighton’s winning streak had included 15 goals and none against but there was neither attacking verve nor defensive resilience on show from Fabian Hürzeler’s side. Liverpool had a monopoly on both, and the sight of Bradley Barcola racing back to defend and Ronald Araújo thundering into challenges will have satisified Iraola just as much as the incisiveness up front.
Sunderland v Leeds evokes one game more than any other. You know the one. It’s 1973. Never mind the Sunday roast, who’s ’avin ’oops?
The updated Premier League table
Premier League results
Daniel Harris has reaction to another dreadful day for Manchester United (and much else besides).
Team news
The talismanic Brian Brobbey returns to the Sunderland attack after injury. Leeds are without Nico Elvedi, Anton Stach and Noah Okafor; in come Jaka Bijol, Harry Wilson and Brenden Aaronson.
Sunderland (4-2-3-1) Roefs; Hume, Mukiele, O’Nien, Mandava; Xhaka, Sadiki; N Angulo, Rigg, Le Fee; Brobbey.
Subs: Ellborg, Methalie, Talbi, Alderete, Diarra, Ahoka, Fofana, J Angulo, Tutierov.
Leeds (3-4-2-1) Trafford; Justin, Bijol, Muharemovic; Bogle, Ampadu, Tanaka, Gudmundsson; Wilson, Aaronson; Calvert-Lewin.
Subs: Zetterer, Longstaff, Nmecha, Stach, Okafor, Bahoya, Bard, Gruev, Cresswell.
Referee Stuart Attwell.
Premier League half-time scores
You can follow all the action at Old Trafford and elsewhere with Daniel Harris.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live, minute-by-minute coverage of Sunderland v Leeds at the Stadium of Light. Last season, these teams breathed new life into the English football pyramid by comfortably avoiding relegation on their return to the Premier League. Leeds have started 2026-27 in a similar vein – but Sunderland, almost unnoticed, have slipped to the bottom of the table after taking four points from the first seven games.
The distraction of the Europa League, in which Sunderland have started superbly, is probably the main reason for that. And three of their seven league games were against the top three, so there’s nothing to worry about yet.
Nor will Sunderland – or Leeds, for that matter – take anything for granted. This is only the third Premier League meeting between the sides since 2002, a reflection of how much these two huge clubs have struggled. English football is a better place when they are in the top flight.
Kick off 4.30pm
