Wearside will always be a special place for James Milner. On Boxing Day 2002 he scored his first Premier League goal for Leeds here at the age of 16 years and 356 days. Who, back then, could possibly have imagined that the 40-year-old Milner would have been at the Stadium of Light on Saturday as an extremely impressive, deep-sitting part of Brighton’s midfield?
He played the entire game too, helping guide his team to their first win at Sunderland since 1981 as the injury-hit home side found no riposte to Yankuba Minteh’s fortuitous second-half winner. It briefly lifted Brighton to 10th, level on 40 points with their hosts, before Newcastle’s 1-0 win at Chelsea dropped them down a place.
