Referee Stuart Attwell heads over to the VAR screen whilst surrounded by Granit Xhaka of Sunderland and Ethan Ampadu of Leeds United(Image: Getty Images)

Captain Granit Xhaka urged Sunderland to stay grounded after reaching 40 points and he singled out Luke O’Nien for praise.

In a poor game that lacked fluency for long spells, the decisive moment arrived in the second half when Sunderland were awarded a penalty following a VAR review for handball. Habib Diarra stepped up and, despite Karl Darlow getting close, saw his effort find the net.

Having hit the landmark initially discussed earlier in the campaign, Xhaka told reporters: “We spoke about it before – the target was 40 points.

“Now we’ve achieved that, we want more because the hunger is big. When you hit your first objective, you don’t stop there.”

O’Nien was handed his first Premier League start of the season and the captain’s armband and he drew particular praise.

“In football you need everyone,” said Xhaka. “It’s not just about 11 or 18 players, you need the whole squad. For some players it hasn’t been easy, but he’s a big example for this...