PATRICK van Aanholt put a strange September behind him by pouncing early in October to give Sunderland a much-needed point against West Brom.

The Dutchman was warned against using a shisha pipe by his manager and had to be withdrawn from the starting line-up at Tottenham because of cardiology results last month, but he emerged from the bench at the Stadium of Light to boost the Black Cats.

Sunderland, still without a victory in the Premier League this season, had fallen behind ten minutes before the break when Nacer Chadli struck for the Baggies.

And Sunderland, clearly rocked by conceding at home again, had struggled to make an impact after that until van Aanholt arrived in the box with seven minutes to go to level things up.

Sunderland almost hit a winner too, although they will be worried German midfielder Jan Kirchhoff had to be carried off on a stretcher during the second half.

Manager David Moyes, whose bench did not include a single forward to highlight the lack of options, tried different things to address the slide and named five changes to the team which started against Crystal Palace.

Among those was the sight of Wahbi Khazri starting for the first time this season but he was unable to have the sort of impact he would have liked after the news Adnan Januzaj will be missing for six weeks though injury.

Sunderland started brightly enough and ought to have gone in front in the third minute when Jermain Defoe missed the target. He had just the keeper to beat after some clever counter-attacking football involving Duncan Watmore and Didier Ndong.

The home side had shown some nice touches in the opening exchanges but West Brom were soon the side to create the better of the chances after that. Jordan Pickford had already made a save to his left from Chadli before he was beaten in the 35th minute.

Matt Phillips, who had robbed Kirchhoff and he was booked for his protests claiming a foul, played Chadli in behind Lamine Kone and the former Tottenham forward cleverly picked out the inside far corner of Pickford’s net.

James McClean, the former Black Cats winger who remains disliked on Wearside and derogatory chants highlighted that, should have added a second shortly before half-time as well but he pulled an effort wide after he was put through by Chadli.

After the break Sunderland’s performance worsened, with West Brom more dangerous and Pickford had to make a strong save to his left to stop Darren Fletcher’s half volley. He also denied Salomon Rondon after that.

That said, Defoe still should have equalised sooner when he was picked out in the area by Khazri and the striker’s effort was blocked when he took a touch too many rather than shooting.

The equaliser did come, though, with six minutes remaining. Van Aanholt started the move before arriving the box to strike Watmore’s return pass inside Ben Foster’s right hand post.

There was a couple of late chances for Sunderland to win it, but West Brom stood tall to leave the North-East with a point.

SUNDERLAND (4-3-2-1-): Pickford; Manquillo, Kone, O’Shea, Denayer; McNair (Rodwell 73), Kirchhoff (van Aanholt 56), Ndong; Watmore, Khazri (Gooch 90); Defoe. Subs: Mika (gk), Love, Djilobodji, Honeyman.

WEST BROMWICH ALBION (4-4-2): Foster; Dawson, McAuley, Evans, Nyom; Phillips, Fletcher, Yacob, McClean (Gardner 73); Chadli (Morrison 90); Rondon (Robson-Kanu 90). Subs: Myhill (gk), Olsson, Berahino, Leko.