A surprisingly entertaining draw at the Stadium of Light brought Gameweek 10 to a close.
Arguably the most influential players for Sunderland and Everton this season, Granit Xhaka (£5.1m) and Iliman Ndiaye (£6.5m), bagged the goals.
The point took the Black Cats into the top four of the Premier League and prolonged their unbeaten home record.
League leaders Arsenal visit Wearside next…
NDIAYE INJURY UPDATE
Ndiaye’s goal was sublime, a jinking run followed by an excellent, controlled finish past Robin Roefs (£4.7m).
A piece of magic from Iliman Ndiaye 🪄 pic.twitter.com/taPEYvutWg
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) November 3, 2025
Ndiaye is now up to four goals for the season. That’s a tally that only Antoine Semenyo (£8.1m) can better among FPL midfielders.
To say he’s making the most of his shots is an understatement: he’s only averaging an effort every 75 minutes in 2025/26, and he’s scored with 50% of his shots in the box.
Above: FPL midfielders sorted by shot-to-goal conversion rate % in 2025/26 (a minimum of 500 minutes)
Ndiaye’s evening ended after an hour, with the Senegalese international hobbling off. Everton’s own social media account provided a positive update straight after full-time but, in the post-match interviews that we’ve seen, David Moyes sounded a bit more cautious.
“Yeah, he just felt… we’re not sure if he was cramping up or he just felt something tightening up. So, we felt it wasn’t worth it to take the risk at the time.” – David Moyes on Iliman Ndiaye, in his post-match presser
“We don’t think it’s too much but we don’t know. He was feeling a bit of cramp and one or two other bits and pieces.” – David Moyes on Iliman Ndiaye, to Everton’s in-house media
ALDERETE LATEST
Sunderland’s most-selected outfielder, the 5.5%-owned Omar Alderete (£4.1m), was again absent.
Regis Le Bris had said last Friday that the Paraguayan stopper had returned to training but did add that he hadn’t yet been cleared to play through the concussion protocol.
And, when the teamsheets came out, Alderete’s name was nowhere to be seen.
Speaking after the match, Le Bris said that Alderete isn’t even guaranteed to be back for Gameweek 11.
“We don’t know yet [whether he’ll be fit to face Arsenal], he had a residual symptom, so we have to assess his health.” – Regis Le Bris on Omar Alderete, via the Sunderland Echo
Sunderland were unchanged as a result, with defender Trai Hume (£4.5m) again inverting from right-back into midfield.
A FAIR RESULT?
If ever an ‘xG race chart’ told the story of a game, this is it:
Everton were the dominant side in the opening half an hour, racking up seven shots to Sunderland’s one.
They had an attempt within seconds of kick-off, with James Garner (£5.0m) firing wide. Jack Grealish (£6.9m) owners can count themselves majorly unfortunate: he struck the post from the edge of the area, then supplied an absolute sitter that Thierno Barry (£5.7m) skied from three yards out. That’s the problem with being a creative midfielder in this Everton side: you’ve often got two misfiring strikers, who have combined for one goal this season, on the end of your key pass.
Then, a complete about-turn. Barry’s horror miss almost seemed to deflate Everton, with the energy and aggression of the first half an hour evaporating.
Between minutes 35 and 81, the Black Cats were 17-0 up on shots!
“I think after 30 minutes, I’d have been disappointed if I was only going home with a point. I think after 90, I was quite pleased to have a point.” – David Moyes
Xhaka scored a deflected equaliser as the Sunderland of the first nine Gameweeks returned, and the Everton box came under siege thereafter.
MUKIELE GETS FORWARD
Bertrand Traore (£5.5m) and Enzo Le Fee (£4.9m) were bright on the wings, the latter claiming an assist for Xhaka’s strike. Xhaka and Le Fee nearly combined for a second deflected goal.
Dan Ballard (£4.6m) was his usual huge threat from set plays, while Nordi Mukiele (£4.2m) even racked up a couple of attempts, one a big headed chance from a free-kick. With Hume inverting, we saw Mukiele overlapping quite a bit, and the budget defender got forward to supply a chance that Wilson Isidor (£5.6m) snatched – and should have done better with.
While Xhaka’s goal was his only shot of the game, and he didn’t touch the ball in the box once, he did set up a game-high five chances, including Mukiele’s header.
Above: Players involved at the Stadium of Light sorted by most chances created (CC)
No midfielder has created more big chances than Xhaka (five) this season.
DEFENSIVE DUO DELIVER DEFCON
Above: Players involved at the Stadium of Light sorted by defensive contributions
On DefCon watch, Ballard was fortunate to bank points before the defensive contribution totals were revised. Post-FPL cut-off, he dropped down to nine!
Grealish, Xhaka and three-quarters of the Everton backline weren’t too far away, meanwhile.
The excellent Michael Keane (£4.5m) smashed through the required target, however. He’s now on 10 DefCon points for the season, just four behind James Tarkowski (£5.5m). In fact, in terms of amassed defensive contributions in 2025/26, there’s little in it: Keane on 102, Tarkowski on 107.
