Brighton 0-0 Sunderland: Hosts´ winless streak continues after cagey draw

Brighton’s winless streak in the Premier League stretched to four matches following a 0-0 draw with Sunderland.

Saturday’s contest at the Amex Stadium was distinctly lacking in attacking quality, as the spoils were shared in the first Premier League meeting between these teams.

Sunderland, without a glut of key players due to the Africa Cup of Nations, turned in a resolute display, and may have won it if not for some fine goalkeeping from Bart Verbruggen.

Robin Roefs pushed away an early chance for Mats Wieffer, though Brighton did not come close again until Yankuba Minteh volleyed over in first-half stoppage time, after Dan Ballard, Brian Brobbey and Trai Hume missed chances at the other end.

Verbruggen then made a magnificent reflex save to thwart Omar Alderete early in the second half.

Yasin Ayari blazed a couple of decent opportunities over and Georginio Rutter tested Roefs late on, but neither team really looked likely to break the deadlock at that stage.

We take home a point#BHASUN pic.twitter.com/Vdy2AIpegw

— Sunderland AFC (@SunderlandAFC) December 20, 2025

Data Debrief: Stalemate specialists strike again

Since their promotion to the Premier League in 2017, no team has had more goalless draws in the division than Brighton (30, level with Crystal Palace).

The Seagulls, who named the youngest average starting XI in the Premier League this season (23 years, 240 days), also failed to score at home for the first time since their 3-0 defeat by Aston Villa in April.

There were 30 shots combined (16 for Brighton, 14 for Sunderland), but the expected goals battle shows those chances were not of a high quality, with the hosts registering 1.29 xG and the visitors 1.39.

Sunderland have now kept six clean sheets this term, already matching their tally for the entirety of their last top-flight campaign in 2016-17.