Aston Villa ended their scoring streak in the premier league and still failed to secure a victory and had to settle with a draw, 1-1, with 10-man Sunderland on Sunday. In the meantime Newcastle was reduced to a scoreless draw at Bournemouth.
The goal by Villa was five matches overdue and came at the 67 th minute. At a distance of 25 meters, Matty Cash struck a curving effort which was disappointed by Sunderland goalkeeper Robin Roefs whose hand went over the ball, and it hit own goal. This was relieving to Villa–but was shortlived.
Who had been one man behind since the 33rd minute, when Reinildo was thrown out after kicking out at Cash, Sunderland struck back. The equalizer was scored by Wilson Isidor in the 75 th where Villa was still in search of a first league win of the season. This leaves them in third last position.
Newcastle, who were at the Vitality Stadium, came out flat following their midweek loss in the champions league against Barcelona. They still failed to break through against a Bournemouth team that was on the verge of a fourth consecutive win even with the squad rotation. The match ended 0-0.
Later in Sunday, the focus is changed to the Emirates. Arsenal welcomes Manchester City in a match of title contenders. Arsenal are trying to narrow the gap between them and leaders in the league Liverpool, to three points whereas City are trying to stabilize their performance with two losses and two wins in the past four matches.