Sunderland vs. Tottenham Hotspur: Final score 0-0, Spurs’ attack disappoints

It’s been a long and difficult season for Sunderland, but they returned to their manager David Moyes’ roots on Tuesday, finding a way to grind out a 0-0 draw. Despite 72 percent possession, 14 shots and 12 corners, Tottenham Hotspur couldn’t find a way to score. And it was a well-earned point for Sunderland, who defended well. Spurs had no answers for them.

The Black Cats had the better chances in the game, despite taking only three total shots. Jermain Defoe was a handful in the opening half-hour, creating one shot for himself that was barely blocked away by Toby Alderweireld, and another for Fabio Borini, who put a wide-open opportunity right into the stomach of Michel Vorm.

Spurs will probably be unhappy that they had to play against 11 men for the entirety of the match after Jack Rodwell’s tackle in the 33rd minute. He took a wild, late and high hack at the legs of Mousa Dembele, but was only shown a yellow card.

Danny Rose picked up a lower-body injury in the 37th minute, though it’s not clear yet exactly what he hurt. He was unable to continue and was replaced by Ben Davies.

The second half was all one-way traffic for Tottenham, with Sunderland failing to create any shooting opportunities for themselves, but Spurs failed to seriously threaten Vito Mannone. Victor Wanyama had the game’s best chance off a second ball following a cleared corner, but he put his uncontested header over the crossbar.

Mauricio Pochettino threw on Moussa Sissoko and Vincent Janssen late in an attempt to generate a winner, but good chances never came.