After eight years away, the Stadium of Light rediscovered its Premier League voice — and Sunderland matched the noise with a performance of control and incision to beat West Ham 3–0. A tight first half gave way to an emphatic second: Eliezer Mayenda’s angled header broke it open just after the hour, Dan Ballard’s towering finish doubled the margin, and substitute Wilson Isidor curled in stoppage-time gloss. For a side featuring seven debutants and a new captain in Granit Xhaka, this was a statement that the step up need not mean a step back.

West Ham were tidy before the interval and threatened in flashes, Jarrod Bowen repeatedly knitting moves together, but they lacked punch in the box. When key moments arrived, Sunderland took them with a ruthlessness that eluded Graham Potter’s team. By the end, Robin Roefs had a clean sheet, the home crowd had their catharsis, and the visitors were left ruing a day in which 64% possession and neat buildups yielded little end product.

A raucous opening settles into a test of nerve and shape

From the first whistle the noise felt like a fourth official carried it onto the pitch — and both teams fed off it. West Ham settled quicker in possession, circulating the ball through midfield to pull Sunderland’s block around and probing down Bowen’s side. The away side’s best moment before the break saw El Hadji Malick Diouf appear certain to score, only for Ballard to produce a full-stretch, last-ditch clearance that drew a roar as loud as any goal.

Sunderland, though, always carried velocity in transition. Habib Diarra’s bursts were a recurring problem; one slick one-two with Mayenda sent the club-record signing in on Mads Hermansen, whose sharp stop preserved parity. Simon Adingra fizzed narrowly wide, Diarra whipped another over, and while chances weren’t relentless, Régis Le Bris’s side looked increasingly sure of their spacing: Xhaka patrolled the base, the full-backs chose their moments, and Mayenda’s runs began to stretch the Hammers’ centre-backs.

Alderete’s delivery meets Mayenda’s movement to break the game’s seal

The tide fully turned on 61 minutes. Omar Alderete — on after Jenson Seelt’s back knock — stepped onto a recycled ball and hung a devilish cross into the corridor. Mayenda, who had been pinning and spinning all afternoon, backed into his marker, then contorted to generate the angle and cushion a header across Hermansen into the far corner. It was a finish of craft rather than brute force, and it detonated the stand behind the goal.

That moment also rewarded Sunderland’s patience. With West Ham increasingly stuck between pressing Xhaka and protecting the space behind their full-backs, the hosts kept working the ball into wide overloads and trusting their forwards’ timing. Once in front they looked liberated: combinations sped up, second balls were hoovered, and the Hammers’ earlier composure waned.

Ballard’s command of both boxes underlines the margin

If Ballard’s first-half rescue was about defensive instinct, his goal was about desire and timing. Meeting Adingra’s deep, arcing cross, the centre-half rose unchallenged and steered a precise header beyond Hermansen to make it 2–0. It was the sort of emphatic contact that says as much about movement before the jump as about the leap itself.

Across the 90 minutes Ballard resembled a metronome for chaos: where others rushed, he read. No player won more duels or made more clearances, and his interventions repeatedly reset Sunderland’s shape. For a team bedding in a new spine, that certainty matters — especially on an afternoon when set-pieces and wide deliveries were such decisive weapons.

Potter’s structure shows, but the edge is missing where it matters

There was nothing aimless about West Ham’s first half. Bowen’s intelligence between the lines stitched moves together, and for twenty minutes Sunderland had to respect the midfield rotations and live without the ball. Yet the best chance fell to Diouf from a broken sequence rather than a sculpted one — and when it didn’t go in, the visitors’ threat thinned. The numbers told the same story: plenty of possession, 11 shots, but only modest chance quality.

Potter’s changes aimed at bite. Callum Wilson’s introduction — met by predictable boos on Wearside — did sharpen penalty-box presence, and only an outstanding late save from Roefs, tipping a deflected Wilson header over, prevented a nervy finish. But the key moments were defensive. Sunderland’s first two goals came from crosses West Ham failed to contest decisively, and the third — Isidor’s curling effort that Hermansen touched but couldn’t hold — arrived with the back line in retreat. The framework is there; the box defending and final-third conviction were not.

Isidor’s late flourish crowns a debutant-driven template

The closing scene fit the arc. Xhaka, exemplary in tempo and temperament, slid a forward pass into space; Isidor, fresh and direct, drove at a tiring back line and wrapped a shot into the far corner. Beyond the scoreboard, the pattern felt instructive for Sunderland: a veteran conductor at the base, ball-carriers in Diarra and Adingra to break lines, Mayenda’s channel runs to stretch, and centre-backs unafraid to dominate their area and the opposition’s.

A balanced verdict: belief for Sunderland, hard lessons not doom for West Ham

Sunderland leave with more than three points: they have a template. Keep Xhaka healthy and central, feed Diarra’s directness, and continue to attack space with width and bravery, and the Premier League should feel less like a cliff face and more like a climb they can pace. The clean sheet will please Roefs, Alderete’s delivery adds a new angle, and Ballard’s afternoon hinted at a leader ready for the division.

For West Ham, this is not a reason to rip up the plan. The structure in possession and Bowen’s constant menace are real assets; Wilson will score in this side, and Hermansen’s shot-stopping already showed up in moments. But the tape won’t lie: the duels in their own area must be won more often, and good buildups need more aggression and variety at the finish. Chelsea next will test both, yet the adjustments are clear and within reach. On opening day, Sunderland’s clarity simply arrived first.