Xhaka: Sunderland 'lost three points' after slow start at Everton

Granit Xhaka believes Sunderland "lost the three points" due to their slow start to Everton, but was thrilled to help the team clinch a point.

Everton had taken the lead through Iliman Ndiaye in the first half before squandering chances to extend their lead, for which they were punished by Xhaka 42 seconds after the break.

Sunderland pushed for a winner late on, with Trai Hume and Nordi Mukiele wasting late headers as the points were ultimately shared.

Xhaka's deflected effort was the second-fastest goal scored after half-time in the Premier League this season, behind Hugo Ekitike against Newcastle United in August (45:20).

The Black Cats piled the pressure on in the second half, finishing with 17 shots overall, though they created just 1.1 expected goals (xG), with only three of those on target.

And Xhaka pointed to the poor opening 25 minutes as the reason they only walked away with a point.

"To be honest, we lost the three points today in the first 20/25 minutes, in my opinion, sloppy on the ball, too many mistakes, easy mistakes," he told Sky Sports.

"At this level, you get punished, but second half was very, very good. A lot of emotions. We create a lot of chances. With a bit more luck, we win this game, but in the end, we take one point."

On his return to the Premier League, Xhaka added: "I knew exactly the project from the club and to bring the experience, but as well the quality to show the guys, day by day, by working.

"I hope I can help them, and I hope in the end we have one objective to give every game, day by day, everything and see in the end where we land.

"It makes me happy always to score and help the team. Everyone knows I'm not a guy to score 10 goals in a season, but I always try to give everything on the pitch, try to give them the fight, mentality on the pitch, and the goal was a little bit of luck.

"I'm very happy to score my first goal for this amazing football club and to help the team."

Sunderland have won more points in the Premier League from losing positions than any other side this season (eight).

Everton had chances to prevent Sunderland from increasing that number on Monday, however, with Jack Grealish hitting the foot of the post before Thierno Barry blazed over from very close range after Ndiaye's opener.

Vitalii Mykolenko also saw a late chance parried by Robin Roefs before Carlos Alcaraz wasted a brilliant counter-attack by dawdling on the ball in stoppage time.

Seven of Everton's eight chances came in the first half, when they racked up 0.84 of their 0.86 xG in the game.

David Moyes remains unbeaten in each of his last five Premier League games against sides he has previously managed (W1 D4).

However, Everton have drawn more top-flight matches than any other side since Moyes' return to the club in January (10), and he lamented their inability to convert their chances while they were on top.

"I thought for 20, 30 minutes I would be disappointed if I go home with a point. At the end, I was pleased we got a point," he told Sky Sports.

"We missed a good chance to make it 2-0, then we sat back, and that gave Sunderland a bit of confidence. We didn't manage the last 15 minutes of the first half very well, and we didn't manage the second half well.

"Coming to Sunderland, a point is not a bad result, but after 30 minutes I was feeling 'we're alright here, we should get a result'. You could see it was a lucky goal [for Sunderland], it was a deflection, but if you shoot, sometimes you get a bit of luck, and they got a bit lucky.

"I'm struggling to pick out much positive from any of our football in the second half. The main thing was to not concede a second goal. It summed up the night that we could not find a pass to get that second goal.

"I wanted much more, and we're capable of it. I think we have a good team, we played quite well for some periods, but not for long enough."