Figure caption,

Highlights: Sunderland stay bottom after goalless draw with Leeds

ByPhil Cartwright
BBC Sport journalist

Sunderland remain bottom of the Premier League, despite ending a run of four successive league defeats with a 0-0 draw against Leeds United.

In blustery conditions at the Stadium of Light, neither side created many clear opportunities to score.

Sunderland had the only two shots on target during a goalless first half, with returning striker Brian Brobbey twice denied by Leeds goalkeeper James Trafford.

The England international also kept out two second-half shots from the edge of the area by Nilson Angulo.

Leeds' best moments in attack came after the interval, with Robin Roefs stopping a Tarik Muharemovic header from a corner and Ao Tanaka's low drive from just outside the box.

Roefs also denied substitute Sean Longstaff in the 90th minute to preserve a point for the hosts, while a couple of goalmouth scrambles in Sunderland's box during stoppage time eventually came to nothing.

Leeds' fifth draw in eight league matches leaves them seventh in the table, while Sunderland are two points adrift of 17th-placed Crystal Palace.

Sunderland analysis: Brobbey back but Black Cats draw another blank

Figure caption,

Regis Le Bris post-match interview - Sunderland vs Leeds

Brobbey had netted a hat-trick in his previous Premier League outing, a 5-3 loss at Manchester City on 20 September.

However, Sunderland had failed to score in their two league matches while he was out with the hamstring injury he sustained while on international duty, and drew another blank against Leeds.

Trafford dived low to his right to keep out Brobbey's deflected shot early on and then was alert to smother the ball at Brobbey's feet after the Dutch striker had put pressure on the visitors' backline.

While providing a focal point for Sunderland's attack, he got little change out of Leeds' three centre-backs and had touched the ball only 16 times before he was replaced in the 65th minute by Ukrainian Timur Tutierov.

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Listen: Ex-Sunderland defender Gary Bennett on draw with Leeds

Leeds analysis: Trafford impresses again

Figure caption,

Daniel Farke post-match interview - Sunderland vs Leeds

Leeds' defensive record is one of the best in the Premier League this season, helped by Trafford making an assured start to his career at Elland Road after joining from Manchester City in August.

Only champions Arsenal (five) have conceded fewer goals than Daniel Farke's side (six) after eight games.

By the same stage of last season, when Leeds were a newly promoted club, they had let in 13 goals.

Until a late Leeds flurry, Trafford was the busier of the two goalkeepers as he registered his third league clean sheet of the campaign.

While solid in the defensive half of the field, Leeds did not do enough to breach Sunderland's backline and their tally of nine Premier League goals is the joint-lowest among clubs in the top half of the table.

Player of the match

Number: 1 J. Trafford
Average rating 7.56
Number: 22 R. Roefs
Average Rating: 5.68
Number: 27 N. Sadiki
Average Rating: 5.20
Number: 13 L. O'Nien
Average Rating: 5.20
Number: 10 N. Angulo
Average Rating: 5.15
Number: 34 G. Xhaka
Average Rating: 5.07
Number: 9 B. Brobbey
Average Rating: 5.07
Number: 32 T. Hume
Average Rating: 5.03
Number: 20 N. Mukiele
Average Rating: 5.02
Number: 17 Reinildo Mandava
Average Rating: 4.96
Number: 28 E. Le Fée
Average Rating: 4.89
Number: 11 C. Rigg
Average Rating: 4.78
Number: 15 O. Alderete
Average Rating: 4.75
Number: 7 C. Talbi
Average Rating: 4.59
Number: 57 T. Tutierov
Average Rating: 4.56
Number: 19 H. Diarra
Average Rating: 4.45

After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users.

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