Editorial: Sunderland’s Win Against Spurs Felt Routine

SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND - APRIL 12: Granit Xhaka of Sunderland celebrates after teammate Nordi Mukiele (not pictured) scored his team's first goal during the Premier League match between Sunderland and Tottenham Hotspur at Stadium of Light on April 12, 2026 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images) | Getty Images Routine win against struggling Spurs… In the build-up to the game I mentioned that it’s coming up seven years since Spurs played in the Champions League final and we haven’t beaten them in the last 15 meetings going back to 2010, but they hardly put a glove on us. We kept them at arms length while actually creating more good goalscoring opportunities than we have been of late.

Whether or not that was because we were playing Spurs, time will tell, but if there was an emphasis on being positive in the final third, it came through. Back to the point though. Although some Spurs fans might disagree, they’ve still spent big.

Maybe not relative to the City’s and Chelsea’s of the world, but they’ve still had major investment on the field – and it once again highlights how clever we’ve been in the market. Look at Solanke for instance and compare the problems he caused us versus the nightmares Brobbey gave their backline. It’s not even comparable, but Spurs spent roughly three times the amount on their striker than we did ours.

Then there was the general workrate and the simple every day things like winning the 50/50’s. The character in our squad shone through and that is what we’re getting right more than anything. We’ve all seen players over the years who aren’t the right fit and don’t have the right character to buy into our identity – it goes downhill very quickly.