Crystal Palace earned their first points of the Premier League season on Saturday thanks to a 3-1 win over Sunderland at Selhurst Park.
Danny Gabbidon gave the hosts a first-half lead before Steven Fletcher came off the bench to get the visitors level just after the hour.
However, Dwight Gayle put Palace back in front from the penalty spot after John O'Shea had been sent off for a foul on the youngster.
The points were then sealed late on as substitute Stuart O'Keefe fired in a spectacular drive from the edge of the box.
Read Sports Mole's minute-by-minute report below to find out how the action unfolded.
Hello there and a big Sports Mole welcome to you for tonight's Premier League encounter between Crystal Palace and Sunderland at Selhurst Park.
While this is certainly not the most mouth-watering fixture in the top flight this weekend, it is one that can be placed firmly in the must-win bracket for both sides.
Crystal Palace's return to the Premier League has been far from enjoyable so far. Ian Holloway's men have lost both of their opening matches, with defeats to Tottenham Hotspur and Stoke City respectively.
It has only been marginally better for Sunderland, who have earned one point from their first two games. They were beaten at home to Fulham on the opening day, but they got their first point on the board last weekend with a 1-1 draw against Southampton.
It has only been marginally better for Sunderland, who have earned one point from their first two games. They were beaten at home to Fulham on the opening day, but they got their first point on the board last weekend with a 1-1 draw against Southampton.
Right, we've got a bit of team news coming in...
CRYSTAL PALACE XI: Speroni; Ward, Gabbidon, Delaney, Moxey; Dikgacoi, Jedinak, Campana, Puncheon; Gayle, Chamakh
CRYSTAL PALACE SUBS: Alexander, Ramage, O'Keefe, Williams, Dobbie, Wilbraham, Phillips
SUNDERLAND XI: Westwood; Celustka, Diakite, O'Shea, Colback; Johnson, Larsson, Giaccherini; Vaughan, Wickham, Ji
SUNDERLAND SUBS: Mannone, Cuellar, Cabral, Karlsson, Roberge, Mavrias, Fletcher
Crystal Palace have made a total of 11 changes to their side following Tuesday's surprise defeat at Bristol City in the Capital One Cup. All of the big names are back, including Julian Speroni, Mile Jedinak, Dwight Gayle and Marouane Chamakh.
Meanwhile, it's five changes for Sunderland as Keiren Westwood, Modibo Diakite, Sebastian Larsson, Emanuele Giaccherini and Connor Wickham all return.
While Palace boss Ian Holloway has been able to switch his whole starting lineup around, the eccentric 50-year-old has frequently expressed his frustration throughout the summer transfer window over the club's inability to bring more new players in. He's only got a couple of days left if he wants to boost the Eagles' chances of survival.
As for his counterpart at Sunderland, Paolo Di Canio has been having a whale of a time in the summer market with 12 new players coming in. The latest of those is Ki Sung-Yueng from Swansea City on a season-long loan. The Korean midfielder only arrived at the club earlier today, but he's not in the squad for the Black Cats' trip to London.
UPDATE: All of today's other Premier League matches are now done and dusted, so here come the full-time results...
PREMIER LEAGUE FULL-TIME RESULTS:
Cardiff City 0-0 Everton
Manchester City 2-0 Hull City
Newcastle United 1-0 Fulham
Norwich City 1-0 Southampton
West Ham United 0-1 Stoke City
As you can see, there hasn't been an abundance of goals across the top flight today. However, something tells me there might be a few tonight.
Sunderland boss Paolo Di Canio speaking to Sky Sports News: "We are only at the beginning of the season, we are going to do everything to win. I believe I have good tactical qualities, so it's not all about passion for me."
One thing that should be noted about Sunderland's team selection for tonight is that Steven Fletcher is back on the bench. The Scottish striker, who was so vital to the Black Cats last season, has been out of action since March with a serious knee injury.
Crystal Palace boss Ian Holloway speaking to Sky Sports News: "We've got to try to get ourselves some new recruits. We're going for it hell for leather. We've got to try to catch up to the rest of the competition."
PREDICTION TIME: First of all, it would be nice to get a few goals tonight following what has been an underwhelming day so far in the Premier League. It's hard to separate these two sides due to their poor starts to the season, but Sunderland's extra quality might just see them pick up the points tonight.
The conditions at Selhurst Park tonight should help to produce a decent match between the sides. The sun has been shining in South London all day.
The players are in the tunnel ready to step out onto the Selhurst Park pitch. This one is moments away
The players are out, the pre-match rituals have been done and it will be Crystal Palace to get us going. Game on!
Little to separate the sides during the opening stages. Giaccherini went on one surging run towards goal, but he as dispossessed by Diakite.
Not too much attacking intent from either team so far. It's Palace who are enjoying more of the possession though.
Campana has the first proper crack at goal, but it's easily gathered by Westwood for Sunderland.
GOAL! CRYSTAL PALACE 1-0 SUNDERLAND (GABBIDON)
Selhurst Park erupts as Crystal Palace take the lead through Danny Gabbidon. It's one of the scrappiest goals you're likely to see as a corner bobbles around in the area, eventually coming off the unwitting defender. However, they all count and the home side is ahead.
Sunderland have responded well since the goal, maintaining possession and asking a couple of questions of the Palace defence.
Wickham is lucky not to go in the book there for a poor challenge on Jedinak. The Sunderland forward went in recklessly from behind but the referee refuses to get a card out of his pocket.
Looking at the replay of the Gabbidon goal it's quite amusing to see the defender unsure of how to celebrate once the ball went in. He turned around almost in shock before being embraced by his teammates.
It's been a fairly full-blooded contest so far. Both sets of players have thrown themselves into a few tasty challenges, but credit must go to the referee for allowing play to continue more often than not.
CHANCE! Sunderland come close to equalising as Celutska's puts a devilish cross into the box, but there isn't a teammate there to nod it in.
Paolo Di Canio doesn't look to impressed with what he's seen so far from his players. They've enjoyed some good possession in midfield (mainly via Giaccherini) but they look toothless in attack at the moment.
WIDE! Palace break through Puncheon, but the loan signing from Southampton can only fire wide. Meanwhile, referee Lee Probert brings play back to book Delaney for a challenge on Ji.
I'm not going to sugarcoat it: this has been a fairly poor game so far. There have only been the occasional flashes of excitement as both teams toil to put their stamp on the match.
Johnson gets a rare run down the right wing, going at the Palace defence, but his low cross towards Wickham is cut out. He's having little influence on proceedings at the moment.
HIGH AND WIDE! Palace have another attempt at goal, this time through Dikgacoi. Gayle shows great skill to play in Chamakh before Dikgacoi blazes the ball way off target from 25 yards.
MISS! Good dynamic play from Puncheon again as he runs at the Sunderland defence, but his low drive from the edge of the box goes narrowly wide of Westwood's post.
Palace fail to find the target again as Gayle weak drive from 25 yards causes Westwood no problems.
The home side go on the attack again as they display some lovely one-touch football in and around the penalty area, but the Sunderland defence manages to get the ball clear. That was impressive from Ian Holloway's men.
CHANCE! Palace come close to doubling their lead through Jedinak, who narrowly misses the goal with a decent drive from 25 yards. Sunderland were caught napping there and almost paid the price.
One minute of added time at the end of the first half.
HALF TIME: CRYSTAL PALACE 1-0 SUNDERLAND
The half-time whistle goes and it's Crystal Palace who lead thanks to Danny Gabbidon's goal in the ninth minute.
As you may have guessed, it's not been a classic 45 minutes of Premier League football at Selhurst Park but it's been that sort of day, hasn't it? However, the home fans will be happy with the position that there side is in at the moment as the look to pick up their first points of the season.
In contrast, you can bet your life that Sunderland boss Paolo Di Canio will be giving his players a rollicking right about now. The Black Cats were pretty abject in that opening 45 minutes.
That said, this match is still within Sunderland's grasp. A bit more incision in the final third and they could turn this one around.
For those who might be out of the loop, here comes a reminder of today's other Premier League results...
PREMIER LEAGUE FULL-TIME RESULTS:
Cardiff City 0-0 Everton
Manchester City 2-0 Hull City
Newcastle United 1-0 Fulham
Norwich City 1-0 Southampton
West Ham United 0-1 Stoke City
Sunderland make a change for the second half as Steven Fletcher, who has been out for five months, replaces Ji Dong-Won. The visitors get the match back underway.
You can tell that the visitors are already playing with a bit more bite in this second half. I'm sure a good ol' berating from Di Canio at half time will have got them out of their shells.
A slight moment of panic in the Sunderland box there as Westwood takes an extra touch before clearing the ball with Chamakh chasing him down.
SUBSTITUTION: Palace make their first change of the match now as Jose Campana comes off for Johnny Williams.
Sunderland are enjoying plenty of the ball around the Palace box, but they're faffing around with it far too much. Meanwhile, Jedinak shoots wide at the other end.
CHANCE! A great run from Gayle ends with the youngster's shot deflecting wide for a corner. Williams takes it though it comes to nothing.
CHANCE! Gayle comes close again as he takes advantage of some hesitancy in the Sunderland box before having his effort put behind for a corner. However, Palace again fail to make it count. The home side are building up a bit of a head of steam at the moment.
SUBSTITUTION: Sunderland make another change as Charis Mavrias comes on for Emanuele Giaccherini.
GOAL! CRYSTAL PALACE 1-1 SUNDERLAND (FLETCHER)
Steven Fletcher is well and truly back! The striker has got Sunderland with a fantastic header from Colback's cross. The Scot arrived late in the box but made no mistake of rising highest to nod past Speroni.
To give you a decent marker of how Sunderland have played this evening, that was their first attempt on target.
The visitors have really been buoyed by that leveller. They're looking a lot more confident now. However, you get the feeling that this match could still go either way with 20 minutes to play.
WIDE! Williams has a glorious chance to put Palace back in front as the ball falls to him on the edge of the box, but the young Welshman shanks his shot off target when he had plenty of time to compose himself.
It's all very end to end now. Both sides fancy themselves to win this match.
PENALTY TO CRYSTAL PALACE!
RED CARD! JOHN O'SHEA (SUNDERLAND)
GOAL! CRYSTAL PALACE 2-1 SUNDERLAND (GAYLE)
The hosts are back in front thanks to Dwight Gayle's confident penalty! The incident all came about after John O'Shea switched off for a moment to allow Gayle to run in behind him. The veteran defender then brought Gayle down in a clear goalscoring situation, giving the referee no choice but to send him off.
Sunderland try to hit back through Johnson, but the winger's shot doesn't have enough on it and Speroni gets down low to collect.
SUBSTITUTIONS: Palace make their final changes of the night as Aaron Wilbraham and Stuart O'Keefe replace Marouane Chamakh and Dwight Gayle.
PENALTY SHOUT! Sunderland now want a penalty as Fletcher takes a tumble in the area with Gabbidon and Speroni in attendance, but the referee waves away the appeals. Nothing doind there, really.
Nervy times these for Palace as they look to close out the match and get their first points of the season on the board.
SAVE! Great goalkeeping from Westwood to keep out Dikgacoi's rasping drive!
Four minutes of added time to play. Can Palace hold on?
GOAL! CRYSTAL PALACE 3-1 SUNDERLAND (O'KEEFE)
What a way for Crystal Palace to seal the win as substitute Stuart O'Keefe lashes the ball into the top corner from 25 yards! A superb strike!
FULL TIME: CRYSTAL PALACE 3-1 SUNDERLAND
Selhurst Park erupts not for the first time this afternoon as the full-time whistle goes to confirm that Crystal Palace have their first win of the season thanks to a 3-1 victory over Sunderland.
Anyway, that's all from me for now. However, don't forget that you can keep up to date with all of the weekend's sporting action right here on Sports Mole. Thanks again for your company and we hope to see you soon.
Written by
Jack Prescott
Jack Prescott
