Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane pounced on a comical piece of defending to break Sunderland's resistance and secure a deserved 1-0 win that lifted the London side to third in the Premier League standings.
The one sour note for unbeaten Spurs was a late ankle injury for Kane, who was wheeled off on a stretcher having scored the winner in the 59th minute after Papy Djilobodji completely missed the ball as he tried to clear.
Only an inspired performance by Sunderland keeper Jordan Pickford kept the hosts at bay as Tottenham managed 19 first-half goal attempts before the break, including one from Son Heung-min that hit the post.
In the second half, Son hit the side netting and rolled another effort across the goal before Kane struck, pouncing on a Dele Alli knockdown after Djilobodji's mistake.
Spurs continued to press with Eric Lamela twice going close and Vincent Janssen blazing over in added time. Sunderland finished with 10 men after Adnan Januzaj was sent off for a foot-up challenge on Ben Davies, having already been booked.
Ina amother match, Crystal Palace beat struggling Stoke City 4-1 on Sunday with defenders James Tomkins and Scott Dann both scoring from set pieces in a three-minute first half spell.
James McArthur and Andros Townsend also scored for the Londoners before Marko Arnautovic grabbed a consolation goal for the Premier League's bottom team in the dying seconds.
Tomkins opened the scoring in the ninth minute when he stole in behind Jonathan Walters to toe-poke home Townsend's free kick, and three minutes later Dann made it 2-0 as he headed Jason Puncheon's corner into the back of the net.
McArthur fired the third in the second half, his shot deflecting off Geoff Cameron before flying into the net in the 72nd minute, and Townsend completed the rout by curling a bouncing shot home three minutes later.
Arnautovic netted Stoke's third league goal of the season just before the final whistle but Mark Hughes' side have now lost four straight Premier League games and conceded four goals on three occasions.
Charlie Austin scored his third goal in four days to deliver Southampton's first Premier League win of the season under manager Claude Puel.
After four league games without a victory, the Saints were seeking to avoid their worst start to a season since 2000-01 and got the break on 63 minutes when Austin chested down a deflected cross and fired an unstoppable shot into the top-right corner.
Southampton dominated the game and Shane Long, Nathan Redmond and Cedric all missed good chances to give them an earlier lead.
Austin, who had scored twice against Sparta Prague in the Europa League on Thursday, could have grabbed a second after good work by the influential Dusan Tadic but his shot was well-saved by Lukasz Fabianski.
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