The Stadium of Light has a way of making afternoons feel bigger than they look on paper, and this one carried multiple storylines before a ball was kicked. Sunderland were chasing another statement at home. Crystal Palace arrived amid chaos, with Oliver Glasner’s exit already announced and captain Marc Guehi pulled out as a move to Manchester City edged closer. By full-time, Sunderland had won 2-1, Palace’s winless run had stretched further, and Glasner had delivered a post-match broadside so fierce it felt like it could be heard from the Wear to the Thames.
On the pitch, Palace actually struck first, almost awkwardly against the flow. After Sunderland’s brighter spells with the ball, the visitors found a breakthrough through Yeremy Pino, who stabbed home from close range to put Palace ahead. It should have settled them. Instead, it seemed to poke the bear.
Sunderland responded within three minutes. Nordi Mukiele whipped in a superb cross from the right and Enzo Le Fée arrived unmarked in the middle, sweeping the equaliser in with the kind of clean contact that changes the mood of a ground instantly. The noise lifted, Sunderland’s belief surged, and Palace’s lead was wiped away almost as quickly as it had arrived.
Palace did have moments in the first half when they could have regained control. Jean-Philippe Mateta passed up two big chances, one glaring miss and another that ended with the ball in the net but was ruled out for offside. Tyrick Mitchell also went close late in the half, heading just wide when Sunderland were wobbling. Those were the windows. Palace didn’t climb through them.
After the break, Sunderland began to own the second half with more authority. They dominated possession, played with greater vertical intent, and pushed Palace deeper and deeper until the game started to feel like it was tilting permanently towards the home end.
The winner arrived in the 71st minute and it was crafted with conviction. Noah Sadiki fed Brian Brobbey on the left side of the area and the striker did the rest, flicking the ball towards goal with his instep. It flew in via the underside of the crossbar, the kind of finish that makes a stadium roar before the net even stops shaking.
Sunderland saw it out with the sort of composure that suggests they’re becoming more than just an energetic side. They are now unbeaten at home in the league this season and the win lifted them into eighth, within touching distance of the top four.
If Sunderland’s afternoon was about progress, Palace’s was about fracture.
Glasner’s outburst after the game centred on one theme: abandonment. He described feeling “completely abandoned,” and the anger wasn’t aimed at the players, who he said gave everything, but at the hierarchy above him. His fury focused on the timing of the Guehi sale, which he said he only learned about at 10.30am the day before the match. For a manager preparing set-pieces and a defensive plan, losing your captain at that stage isn’t an inconvenience, it’s an explosion inside the week’s work.
He repeatedly returned to the idea of Palace’s “heart” being ripped out, referencing both Guehi now and the earlier departure of Eberechi Eze. His point was not simply that key players had been sold, but that they were removed at the worst possible time, leaving an already thin squad even more exposed.
That thinness was reflected in one of the match’s strangest details: Palace made no substitutions. Glasner explained it bluntly. Look at the bench, he said, and it’s “just kids.” He spoke about not wanting to throw inexperienced players into a hostile away atmosphere and suggested he couldn’t properly support the senior players during the match because there were no experienced options to change the game.
Despite the fury, Glasner insisted he wouldn’t walk away, saying the players and fans deserve him to lead them through it. But he also delivered a warning wrapped in plain language: if nothing changes, the bill will arrive at the club’s door, not his.
In stark contrast, Regis Le Bris spoke like a coach enjoying the steady click of a project taking shape. He called it an “important” win, acknowledged Sunderland started slowly, and praised the maturity and confidence his side showed to find solutions, adjust at half-time, and then win it. He also spoke warmly about Brobbey’s improvement, pointing to fitness, connections with teammates and the fragile power of striker confidence, which, for now, has swung onto the right side.
Sunderland’s supporters will remember the comeback and the noise. Palace’s will remember the sense of a club in the middle of a storm, with their manager shouting into it rather than hiding from it.
