
‘This Sunderland star was a level above vs Burnley’ – He ran the show at Turf Moor
Kris Boyd couldn’t get enough of one Sunderland player despite their 2-0 defeat against Burnley.
Burnley away is a tough encounter for any side in the Premier League, and Sunderland certainly felt that at Turf Moor.
Lyle Foster thought he had opened the scoring, but a foul was called on Sunderland’s Jenson Seelt, who was introduced inside ten minutes after an injury to Dan Ballard.
Josh Cullen eventually opened the scoring for Burnley, before Jaidon Anthony sealed all three points for Burnley in a 2-0 win over Sunderland.
However, while Saturday’s encounter was a cagey affair, and certainly a poor result, Boyd was blown away by the performance of one man, and it’s going to be a sentiment shared throughout the campaign in all likelihood.

Granit Xhaka shows his quality for Sunderland
Having lost to one of your rivals for relegation, there are certainly not a lot of positives to take from Sunderland‘s 2-0 defeat to Burnley.
However, Boyd identified one of them in the form of Granit Xhaka.
The Swiss international was everywhere for the Black Cats in a game that was ultimately decided by the lack of clinical ability ahead of him.
Speaking on Sky Sports on 23 August, Boyd said: “Granit Xhaka is a level above this.” He wasn’t wrong.
According to Fotmob, the 32-year-old recorded a remarkable 92 per cent pass accuracy, with 91 of his 99 attempted passes finding a Sunderland player.
Premier League | Goals | xG | Possession |
Burnley | 2 | 0.96 | 47% |
Sunderland | 0 | 0.70 | 53% |
Six of those were long balls, with Xhaka recording a 67 per cent accuracy in that regard.
He won two of his five ground duels, making seven defensive contributions in total.
Sunderland deserved nothing, but Xhaka certainly did not deserve to be on the losing team.

Sunderland frailties exposed at Turf Moor
While Xhaka may have been a level above, the finishing on display from the Black Cats certainly wasn’t.
Eliezer Mayenda, who scored last weekend in Sunderland’s win vs West Ham, missed a golden opportunity just a few minutes into the game, which proved to be costly.
If Sunderland are to survive in the Premier League, that is the area in which they need to improve significantly, given the fact that they aren’t going to receive as many chances in the top flight as they did in the Championship.
Sunderland are still in the market for more attacking reinforcements, and those attempts may be accelerated after such a poor result against Burnley.
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