Sunderland 0 Leeds 2: Whites win without Burnley-bound Chris Wood as Samuel Saiz and Stuart Dallas net for the visitors
Black Cats were not able to register their first home victory of the season as Simon Grayson went up against his former side
LEEDS UNITED were not distracted by Chris Wood's withdrawal from the squad as they picked up three points away to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
Samuel Saiz broke the deadlock in the first half with a fine strike across goal before Stuart Dallas came off the bench in the second half to head home the Spaniard's cross.
Wood travelled with his team-mates but was not included the 18-man squad and he released a statement before kick off as a move to Burnley is imminent.
After a tight start to the match Lewis Grabban broke clear in the 19th minute for the Black Cats but his goal-bound effort was blocked onto the crossbar by the head of Liam Cooper.
And two minutes later, the Whites broke down the other end and after good work on the right flank from Ezgjan Alioski he slipped in Saiz who fired a low-shot into the bottom corner past Jason Steele.
As the first half wore on, Leeds grew in confidence but they were unable to double their lead before the interval.
After the restart, Simon Grayson's men found their groove and raised the intensity, taking the game to Leeds and putting the visitors under immense pressure.
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Thomas Christiansen was then hit with another problem on the hour mark after Caleb Ekuban, who took Wood's place in the starting XI, came off injured.
The forward chased the ball down in Sunderland's box but appeared to push too hard as he sunk to the floor and was unable to continue.
Sunderland were pushing for an equaliser but in the 76th minute Leeds broke forward and Saiz whipped a ball across goal and Dallas nodded the ball in to seal the victory.
