The two teams went toe to toe in the early stages with a particularly intriguing battle playing out between Reinildo Mandava and Evann Guessand, although it was the Villa wideman doing more of the defending.
Wilson Isidor had the game’s first attempts but headed Chemsdine Talbi’s cross off-target and saw his ambitious strike caught by Emiliano Martinez despite an awkward deflection off Tyrone Mings, before having a shot denied by Ezri Konsa.
Martínez then caught Omar Alderete’s header from a long Nordi Mukiele throw as the Black Cats continued to search for an opener.
The visitors finally had a shot of their own in the 27th minute when Morgan Rogers found Guessand after a free-kick was unconvincingly dealt with, but the Ivory Coast international fired straight at Robin Roefs.
Sunderland still suffered a blow shortly after when Mandava was sent off for kicking out at Matty Cash after being fouled by the Villa right-back.
Regis Le Bris responded by going to a back five, and the hosts made it to HT without any further damage with Emiliano Buendía blazing his shot over the crossbar after collecting Roefs’ shaky punch.
Villa showed intent after the restart, but John McGinn smashed his speculative shot harmlessly over.
The Stadium of Light was soon buzzing with anticipation though, as Sunderland’s aerial threat caused problems with Alderete’s looping header hitting the crossbar.
Unai Emery made a double change shortly before the hour mark and Harvey Elliott saw a shot blocked, and his side’s wait for their first PL goal of the season finally came to an end when Roefs made a mess of dealing with Cash’s speculative strike from range.
Their lead lasted just nine minutes though, as Granit Xhaka nodded the ball towards Isidor for the striker to clinically finish.
Elliott sent a first-time shot marginally wide and Ollie Watkins failed to even connect with his attempted header, as Sunderland fought to retain their unbeaten PL record at the Stadium of Light this season.
While Villa at least got their first league goal, they still await a first competitive victory this term and remain in the bottom three as a result.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Nordi Mukiele (Sunderland)