Unai Emery’s side are yet to win, or even score, in the 2025-26 Premier League season. We look ahead to their next game with our Sunderland vs Aston Villa prediction and preview.
Sunderland vs Aston Villa: The Key Stats
Aston Villa claimed all three points at Sunderland in 55.3% of pre-match simulations by the Opta supercomputer. Sunderland last won their first three home top-flight games in a season back in 1965-66. Ollie Watkins has been involved 12 goals in his last nine Premier League appearances against newly promoted clubs (6 goals, 6 assists).Aston Villa desperately need to click into gear on Sunday if they are to register their first points of the Premier League season when they visit Sunderland.
Unai Emery’s side are yet to claim a point, or score a single goal, this league campaign ahead of their trip to the Stadium of Light, where Regis Le Bris’ side have already beaten both Brentford and West Ham United.
Villa’s miserable start was compounded by a penalty-shootout defeat to Brentford on Tuesday, though Harvey Elliott did score their first competitive goal of the 2025-26 campaign in a 1-1 EFL Cup third-round draw.
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5 hours ago Matt FurnissThey are now facing the unwanted prospect of becoming just the third team in top-flight history to fail to score in any of their first five league games of a campaign, after Ipswich Town (1970-71) and Crystal Palace (2017-18).
Villa also failed to find the net on the final day of last season at Manchester United. Only once have they had a longer run in their history (six games between December 2014 and February 2015) without scoring than the five-match league streak they are currently on.
Ollie Watkins will be central to any improvement in front of goal. He has been involved 12 goals in his last nine Premier League appearances against newly promoted clubs (6 goals, 6 assists).
The England striker is currently level with Gabriel Agbonlahor (14 goals, 6 assists) for most Villa goal involvements against promoted sides in the competition (10 goals, 10 assists). Emery’s side must create more to feed Watkins, though, with their 3.07 expected goals only better than Wolves’ 2.63 in the entire Premier League.
Villa will have hope here, considering they are undefeated in 15 Premier League outings against promoted sides under Emery (W12 D3). Their last such defeat came in a 3-0 away loss to Fulham in what proved to be Steven Gerrard’s final match in charge.
The Stadium of Light is unfamiliar territory for Emery, though. He has never managed against Sunderland but has beaten 25 of the 27 clubs he has faced in the Premier League with Arsenal and Villa, failing only against Ipswich Town (D2) and Liverpool (D4 L5).
The Villa boss should not take for granted last season’s Championship play-off winners, with Sunderland aiming to win their first three home top-flight games in a season for the first time since 1965-66. The last newly promoted side to win their first three games on home soil in the Premier League was Burnley in 2009-10, though Owen Coyle’s side were still relegated that season.
Sunderland are also looking to win three consecutive home Premier League matches for the first time since February 2012. A win on Sunday would see them equal their total wins at the Stadium of Light in their last top-flight campaign in 2016-17 (W3 D5 L11).
A goalless draw away to Crystal Palace last time out provided Le Bris with further encouragement as goalkeeper Robin Roefs made six saves. The Eagles accumulated 1.77 expected goals but failed to breach Sunderland’s backline.
At the other end of the pitch, Wilson Isidor has come off the bench and scored in both of Sunderland’s home Premier League games so far this season. The last player to find the net in each of the Black Cats’ first three at the Stadium of Light was Darren Bent in 2010-11.
There may have been some overperformance, however. Le Bris’ side have scored five goals from just nine shots on target in this season’s competition, with only Arsenal (64%) converting a higher share of their attempts on target than the 56% by Sunderland.
Le Bris expects Dan Ballard and Luke O’Nien to be available on Sunday, though Dennis Cirkin, Romaine Mundle and Leo Hjelde remain out. Enzo Le Fée missed the draw at Palace with a training injury and will be assessed late.
Villa have no fresh concerns for their starting XI, and will have been encouraged by goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez‘s impressive return in their goalless draw at Everton last Saturday.
Sunderland vs Aston Villa Head-to-Head
Sunderland have won just one of their last 12 league meetings with Villa (D5 L6). That victory came in the last Premier League clash between the pair, a 3-1 home win in January 2016 under Sam Allardyce.
However, Villa completed a league double over Sunderland when they last faced in the 2017-18 Championship.
Emery’s side will now be looking to win three league games in a row against Sunderland for the first time since December 2009, when managed by Martin O’Neill.
Sunderland vs Aston Villa Prediction
Despite back-to-back home victories, the Opta supercomputer struggled to see Sunderland making it three in a row across 10,000 pre-match simulations.
Le Bris’ side only triumphed in 22.5% of data-led sims, while the draw was rated at 22.2%.
The remaining 55.3% accounted for a Villa win that Emery so desperately needs to kick-start their campaign.
Sunderland vs Aston Villa Predicted Lineups
Sunderland: Robin Roefs, Trai Hume, Nordi Mukiele, Omar Alderete, Reinildo Mandava, Habib Diarra, Granit Xhaka, Noah Sadiki, Chemsdine Talbi, Simon Adingra, Wilson Isidor.
Head coach: Regis Le Bris
Aston Villa: Emiliano Martínez, Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings, Lucas Digne, Lamare Bogarde, Boubacar Kamara, John McGinn, Morgan Rogers, Emiliano Buendía, Ollie Watkins.
Head coach: Unai Emery
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 10,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off this weekend in the north east, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.
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Sunderland vs Aston Villa Prediction: Can Unai Emery Stop Woeful Run? Opta Analyst.
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