The Stadium of Light waited eight long years for a Premier League afternoon like this and, when it arrived, Sunderland made it feel inevitable. Régis Le Bris sent out a side stacked with debutants yet brimming with clarity; the team absorbed West Ham’s early possession, then ripped the game from their grasp with three second-half strikes. Eliezer Mayenda’s clever header lit the fuse on 61 minutes, Dan Ballard’s thumping finish raised the roof, and Wilson Isidor’s late curler turned celebration into catharsis.

For supporters, this wasn’t just a win — it was a manifesto. Granit Xhaka captained with authority, Habib Diarra carried the ball like a battering ram in silk, and Robin Roefs collected a clean sheet on a day when the big moments all went red and white. West Ham had 64% of the ball and tidy phases through Jarrod Bowen, but Sunderland had the speed, the structure and the punch. Back in the big time, the Black Cats looked right at home.

A homecoming charged with noise and nerve

Wearside welcomed the teams into a wall of sound and, for a spell, we needed it. West Ham passed neatly, tugging at our block and trying to isolate Bowen against the full-back. The first roar of the day came not for a goal but for a rescue: when El Hadji Malick Diouf seemed certain to score, Ballard slid across the six-yard box to scythe the ball away — a tackle that felt like a hinge the afternoon would swing upon.

Even while the Hammers enjoyed the ball, Sunderland carried the sharper edge. Diarra’s engine turned midfield scraps into surges; one give-and-go with Mayenda cut West Ham open and forced Mads Hermansen into a scrambling save. Simon Adingra whipped inches wide, Diarra lashed another over, and the sense grew that Le Bris’s side were learning the game in real time — lines tightening, distances shrinking, the counter primed.

Xhaka’s compass, Diarra’s thrust — Sunderland’s shape finds its stride

From the first whistle, Xhaka looked like he’d always worn the armband. He slid into the quasi-sweeper pocket in front of our centre-backs, shaping passing lanes and springing runners without overplaying. That calm bled into everything: full-backs picked their moments, midfielders stepped in unison, and the front line pressed on cues rather than vibes.

Then came the run power. Diarra didn’t just break lines; he shredded them, turning half-chances into panic. With Mayenda locking onto centre-backs and Adingra riding the far touchline, Sunderland repeatedly asked West Ham a question they couldn’t answer: track the runners or step to the pivot? As the second half began, that dilemma finally cost them.

Alderete’s arc and Mayenda’s craft — the dam finally breaks

The opener was part timing, part technique, and entirely deserved. Omar Alderete, on after Jenson Seelt’s back injury, teased a perfect cross into the corridor. Mayenda backed into his man, twisted his body and caressed a header across Hermansen into the far corner. It wasn’t thunder; it was geometry — the kind of finish that whispers "we’ve worked on this" as it kisses the net.

That goal changed the weather. With the lead, Sunderland lifted the tempo and the volume. We began recycling quickly, pinning West Ham’s full-backs and winning second balls in their half. Where the first 45 had been a test of concentration, the second became a test of ambition — and the Black Cats leaned into it.

Ballard’s afternoon of authority — owning both penalty areas

If the first-half tackle was a roar, the second goal was a statement. Adingra hung a deep, arcing ball and Ballard, reading the flight before anyone else, strode into space and guided a header beyond Hermansen for 2–0. It looked simple because he made it so: movement, timing, neck muscles, done.

He did just as much at the other end. Whether stepping in front of Wilson or heading clear under pressure, Ballard set Sunderland’s temperature. On a day that demanded leaders among new faces, he was immense — winning duels, making clearances, and reminding the Premier League that some defenders defend first and everything else second.

Roefs’ one big save and the calm that followed

Clean sheets in this league rarely come without a moment. Ours arrived late. Callum Wilson — to a chorus of boos for obvious geographical reasons — glanced a deflected free-kick toward the top corner, only for Roefs to spring and tip over. It was his headline stop in a measured debut, and it kept the afternoon in the sweet spot between party and procession.

Beyond that flash, Roefs’ handling and distribution were tidy, his choices sensible. He didn’t need to be the hero because the structure in front of him did its job — but when asked, he answered. That’s all a Sunderland keeper needs to be on days like these.

The bench’s punch — Xhaka’s pass, Isidor’s flourish, the perfect ending

Le Bris used his bench as a blade, not a bandage. Alderete created the first; later, Xhaka split lines with a crisp, vertical feed into Wilson Isidor. The substitute squared up a backpedalling defence, opened his hips and curled a shot that Hermansen touched but couldn’t hold. Three-nil, stoppage time, and a soundtrack of joy rolling down from the stands.

That final act mattered in more than mathematics. It showcased the depth Sunderland have built: fresh legs with final product; a captain who raises the floor and ceiling; a manager unafraid to trust new signings in big moments. For a squad assembled at pace, the connections already look real.

What this win says — belief, balance and a blueprint to carry on the road

Opening day can flatter, but this didn’t. Sunderland weren’t simply spirited; they were balanced. Xhaka set the metronome, Diarra turned midfield duels into territory, Mayenda and Adingra gave constant depth, and the centre-backs — with Ballard front and centre — owned the air. Seven debutants started, yet the patterns looked practiced, the roles clear.

There will be rougher seas than a West Ham side still searching for teeth, and nobody should get carried away in August. But the essentials travelled: compact without the ball, quick and purposeful with it, clinical when the hinge moments arrived. Take that template to Burnley, keep feeding the wide lanes and the late runners, and this return to the top flight won’t just be about nostalgia. It’ll be about belonging.