Sunderland Breaks 17-Year Hoodoo with Win Over Fulham

Álvaro Arbeloa stood still at the end, locked in his own thoughts. On the opposite technical area, Régis Le Bris exhaled like a man who had just stepped away from the edge. A match gripped by the fear of losing was finally cracked open by two second‑half substitutes, Habib Diarra and Wilson Isidor, who combined for the goal that Sunderland – and their season – badly needed.

Isidor’s finish did more than secure Sunderland’s first win of the campaign and leave Arbeloa’s Fulham without a point. It also snapped a 17-year wait for a Premier League victory over these opponents, a strange, stubborn run that had hung over Wearside for far too long.

Sadiki sets the tone

For 45 minutes, the game felt like it was being played under a glass ceiling. Sunderland had the ball, Fulham had their shape, and neither side seemed willing to risk the kind of mistake that defines an early-season narrative.

In the middle of it all, Noah Sadiki quietly took charge. The Sunderland midfielder ran the central third with authority, snuffing out counters before they could form and forcing Fulham to feed on scraps. Time and again, he stepped across to intercept or nick the ball away, and with each intervention the visitors’ ambition shrank a little more.

Fulham created just one clear opening before the break. Alex Iwobi carved it out with a sharp bit of work down the flank, slipping Josh King into a tight angle. King, though, lost his bearings and miscued, beaten not by a defender but by the geometry of the situation. Robin Roefs, otherwise, could have watched the half with a cup of tea.

Sunderland, for all their control, carried little menace. Their attacks dulled on the edge of the area, crosses drifted harmlessly, and Bernd Leno barely needed to adjust his gloves. The pattern only underlined what Le Bris has been saying all summer: this squad still cries out for a natural right‑winger and another centre-forward. Kyril-Louis Dreyfus, watching on, did not need a PowerPoint presentation to understand why.

Mukiele’s moment, then the change

If the first half belonged to Sadiki, the second opened with Nordi Mukiele reminding everyone why his return from injury matters so much on Wearside. Restored to the heart of defence, the former Paris Saint-Germain defender produced the game’s first truly decisive defensive act.

Sander Berge sliced Sunderland open with a superb through pass, Gonzalo García racing clear and shaping to score what looked a near‑certain goal. Mukiele read it in a heartbeat, launching into a perfectly timed sliding challenge that took ball, not man, and left García staring at the turf. It was a tackle that carried as much weight as a goal.

García, who had scored in each of his first two competitive games since arriving from Real Madrid, suddenly found Sunderland’s back line far less accommodating. Fulham began to push, though, and the balance of the contest threatened to tilt.

Le Bris did not wait to see if it would. Sensing Fulham’s growing confidence, he reached for his bench.

Off came the ineffective Nilson Angulo and Brian Brobbey. On came Diarra and Isidor. The tempo changed almost immediately.

Isidor’s miss, then redemption

The pressure finally told when Enzo Le Fée produced the kind of pass that deserves a goal at the end of it. Sweeping a first‑time ball across the face of Leno’s goal, he left Isidor with what looked the simplest of finishes. The substitute had timed his run, arrived unmarked and only needed a clean connection.

Somehow, he smacked the base of the post.

Le Bris dropped to his knees, the stadium groaned, and Isidor looked utterly stricken. In a tight, anxious game, moments like that can haunt a player and a team.

But the game had changed. Sunderland were running at Fulham’s high line now, stretching them, forcing defenders to turn and chase. The next time the ball flashed across the box, it came from Diarra.

The substitute drove forward and whipped in another superb delivery. Isidor attacked it with conviction this time, meeting it with a fierce, rising strike that tore past Leno before the goalkeeper could properly set himself. From despair to atonement in a matter of minutes.

The goal jolted the stadium to life and, just as importantly, punctured Fulham’s belief. Their defence, already flirting with danger by holding such a high line, suddenly looked exposed and uncertain.

Diarra had injected exactly the kind of energy and directness Sunderland had been missing, but his cameo did not last. An injury forced him off, Chris Rigg taking his place and the momentum with it.

By then, though, the damage to Fulham was done. Isidor had his redemption. Sunderland had their win. And a 17-year Premier League hoodoo over Fulham lay broken at last.