Afcon stars contribute to home comforts

Sunderland's success this term has owed much to being able to turn the Stadium of Light into a fortress.

While there is no suggestion they will be able to emulate Brian Clough's Forest side, who went the entire season without defeat at the City Ground on their way to winning the old First Division championship, the Black Cats are well placed to set a new mark of their own.

With a 15-match unbeaten home run in 2009-10, Birmingham City hold the record for a newly promoted side in the Premier League era.

Sunderland's current feat has left them in exalted company too.

Only Atletico Madrid, Napoli, Juventus, Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and Paris St-Germain remain without a home loss this term across Europe's big five leagues.

While the loss of six first-team players at the Africa Cup of Nations contributed to a recent downturn in form, all those players are now back in the fold, and Sunderland were able to make light of the continued absence of captain Granit Xhaka with an ankle injury.

And Senegal international Habib Diarra - effectively the man standing in for the Switzerland midfielder - played a starring role as he netted his first goal for the club since his summer arrival from Strasbourg.

His driven effort which flicked off Axel Tuanzebe gave the Black Cats' their earliest league goal since Javier Manquillo's strike against Chelsea in May 2017 and laid the platform for what followed.

Along with striker Brian Brobbey, the visitors struggled to deal with the threat and direct running of Diarra, who helped Senegal to Afcon glory.

Sunderland also showed they were equally capable of cutting through the visitors, with Morocco international Talbi's third strike of the campaign arriving after 10 passes - the joint-longest sequence leading to a league goal for his side this term.