Set-piece precision and iron resolve: Sunderland claim first Premier League away win since 2017

Sunderland produced the template away performance at the City Ground, striking through Omar Alderete’s first-half header and then defending with collective conviction to defeat Nottingham Forest 1-0. Promoted this season and bedding in a revamped squad, Regis Le Bris’s side climbed into the top four with their third win of the campaign — and their first Premier League away victory since 2017.

The decisive moment came from a dead ball after Nicolas Dominguez was booked for simulation following a tangle with Trai Hume. Granit Xhaka’s deft free-kick delivery found Alderete sneaking round the back to nod home. From there, Sunderland’s shape, discipline and an inspired Robin Roefs withstood heavy pressure to secure a landmark result.

Delivered from the dead ball

Fine margins defined the winner, and Sunderland mastered them. The free-kick award drew home protests, but the execution was perfect: Xhaka’s inviting trajectory and Alderete’s timing at the far post punished Forest’s lapse, with Chris Wood switching off as the Paraguayan defender — a £10m summer signing from Getafe — ghosted in to score the club’s first away goal of the season.

Forest’s Ange Postecoglou later suggested the decision could be debated, but even he conceded the set-piece should have been defended better. Sunderland, meanwhile, had no need to qualify their satisfaction. Prepared on the training ground and delivered under pressure, it was the sort of moment that turns tight top-flight matches.

Roefs’ command under fire

Once ahead, Sunderland’s rearguard held firm. Roefs repelled a barrage after the interval, including a brilliant near-post stop when Omari Hutchinson teed up Wood, an athletic save from a long-range Elliot Anderson strike and strong hands to deny Hutchinson again. Wood also glanced wide with a clear look, while earlier Forest headers drifted off target.

This was intelligent collective defending, with concentration intact as the crosses and cut-backs kept coming. Forest finished with 65% possession, 90% pass completion and 22 attempts, but Sunderland’s structure protected Roefs when it mattered and the goalkeeper did the rest.

Le Bris’ plan: discipline first, improvements to come

Sunderland were pragmatic: seize the lead, suffer together, and attack in moments. It was exactly the “ideal top-flight away performance” their afternoon demanded. Xhaka embodied the calm at the heart of it — “Nottingham Forest were the better team today, but it’s about who scores,” he said — and he underlined the hours devoted to set-piece work that decided the contest.

Le Bris saluted the mentality and collective defending, while reminding his squad there is growth ahead: building more cleanly under pressure and making better use of possession when it comes. Given the churn of the summer and the step up after recent promotions, Sunderland’s acclimatisation is impressively ahead of schedule.

The away end’s reward and the path forward

At full-time the contrast was striking. Forest were booed off; Sunderland’s supporters lingered to celebrate a result they had waited eight years to witness again on the road in the Premier League. It felt like a milestone for a club that has rebuilt its way back to this stage.

The table offers an added sheen: third place after six matches and another clean sheet earned the hard way. Next up is a trip to Manchester United — another examination of an approach that travels, underpinned by set-piece threat, leadership from Xhaka and a goalkeeper in Roefs who looks ready for any storm.