Thanks to Jobe Bellingham, AFC Sunderland is the new Championship leader – with a club record. Tim Walter also had reason to celebrate on Tuesday – again.
With a remarkable long-range shot, Jobe Bellingham shot AFC Sunderland back to the top of the Championship, which was lost to West Bromwich Albion about two weeks ago. Jude Bellingham’s younger brother scored his first goal of the season in a 2-0 home win over Derby County on Tuesday night. After a bad pass from the guests, the 19-year-old ran a few more meters and put the ball from over 20 meters next to the left post.
Wilson Isidor scored ten minutes after the break to make the final score, through which the Black Cats improved their home record historically: they had never won their first four games in the Stadium of Light without conceding a goal. “At the beginning of the season, we set out to turn the stadium into a fortress,” Bellingham is quoted on the club’s website as saying. Last season, newly promoted Sunderland finished 16th in the league and 15th at home.
Three days after their surprise 3-2 loss at Sheffield Wednesday, the previous leaders West Bromwich suffered their second defeat of the season, going down 1-0 to Middlesbrough and allowing both Sunderland and Burnley to overtake them. The club, where Vincent Kompany once played and was trained, was relegated from the Premier League last week and earned a 1-0 victory over Plymouth Argyle on Tuesday.
Walter thrilled: Hull makes up for slow start
While Daniel Farke and Leeds United had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Norwich City, Tim Walter was celebrating again. The former coach of Kiel, Stuttgart and HSV had got off to a poor start at his first foreign club, Hull City, with five winless league games and an early exit from the League Cup – but has now celebrated three wins in a row.
The Tigers followed up a 3-1 win at Stoke and a 4-1 victory over Cardiff with a 3-1 win at home-less Queens Park Rangers. “We started like a house on fire. After the first goal, it was even better,” Walter enthused on the BBC microphone. “We’re a good team – everyone believes in each other.” Hull climbed to ninth place.