The spotlight was entirely on the English Premier League debutants and they did not disappoint one bit as North London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham picked up impressive wins, with Manchester City frustrated by Stoke City.
Mesut Ozil was handed a debut by Arsene Wenger and the German international was at his brilliant creative best, assisting for the opening goal and having a hand in pretty much every single Arsenal attack against Sunderland.
Aaron Ramsey was the star of the show, though, scoring two delightful goals, in a 3-1 win, with Olivier Giroud grabbing the opener.
Craig Gardner had made it 1-1 for Sunderland early in the second half, before Ramsey's double gave the Gunners a much deserved win at the Stadium of Light.
Christian Eriksen also shone for Spurs, grabbing an assist in their 2-0 win over Norwich, while Manuel Pellegrini's Manchester City were held to a goalless draw by Stoke at the Britannia.
At the Stadium of Light, all eyes were on one man as Wenger expectedly named £42.5 million man Mesut Ozil in the starting lineup.
And boy oh boy the German did not disappoint, immediately showing his immense quality against a Sunderland side who were pretty much on the backfoot for the entire first half.
It came as no surprise when Arsenal opened the scoring, with Ozil unsurprisingly playing a major role.
The former Real Madrid man brought down a long ball from Kieran Gibbs perfectly on the left channel, before picking out Olivier Giroud with an early pinpoint pass. Such has been the Frenchman's form that it came as no surprise when he swept the ball home first time past Kieren Westwood for his fourth Premier League goal in as many games.
Arsenal and Ozil were in the mood now and looked dangerous every time they went forward, but were almost caught unawares when Modibo Diakite struck the crossbar with a header from a corner.
Ozil was at the fore again, with the German then picking out Theo Walcott with a perfect through ball. The England international surprisingly could not find a way past Westwood, though, with the Sunderland goalkeeper making a smart save - one of many from Walcott and co. in the first half.
The Arsenal midfield were in complete control now, as Ozil, Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey ran the show in the centre of the park, with Mathieu Flamini sitting deep and doing the defensive work.
Walcott would have wondered how he did not score with the forward presented with several clearcut opportunities - but Westwood stood in the way pretty much every single time.
Ozil also could have scored a goal on debut, but his strike from just inside the box was well blocked by the Sunderland defence.
Arsenal were made to pay for those missed chances as a reinvigorated Sunderland side equalized early in the second half.
A moment of madness from Laurent Koscielny gifted Sunderland a penalty after the French defender unnecessarily decided to slide in and bring down Adam Johnson inside the box.
Substitute Craig Gardner stepped up and coolly slotted home the spotkick to draw the match level on 48 minutes.
Sunderland were a different side now and were causing Arsenal quite a few problems, with both Steven Fletcher and Jozy Altidore making a nuisance of themselves up front.
Sunderland found the back of the net via Fletcher off a cross from Johnson, but the assistant referee correctly raised his flag for offside.
The home side, with their tails up, then struck the post as Gardner saw his freekick from distance evade everyone and hit the woodwork, but the goal would not have counted anyways as the referee's assistant had his flag up again for offside.
However, Arsenal slowly started taking control of possession and with it came the familiar dominance and chances that was so in demand in the first half.
The Gunners went up again with a brilliant goal. Carl Jenkinson, down the right, picked out Aaron Ramsey on the edge of the box brilliantly, with the Arsenal midfielder firing a stunning low first-time volley past a helpless Westwood.
Sunderland thought they were level soon after, with Altidore shrugging off the challenge of Bacary Sagna, in at central defence for the ill Per Mertesacker, before squeezing his shot past Wojciech Szczesny.
However, referee Martin Atkinson called the play back as he had already blown the whistle for a foul on Altidore, much to the disappointment of the home side.
Nothing came of the resultant freekick, and Arsenal made full use of the lifeline, putting the game to bed with another cracking goal.
Arsenal were brilliant in those little triangles all game and Ozil, Giroud and Ramsey combined brilliantly before the latter slotted in his second with aplomb.
At White Hart Lane, Tottenham put their disappointment of losing the North London derby to Arsenal behind them with a comfortable enough 2-0 win over Norwich City.
Eriksen was handed a Premier League debut and the former Ajax playmaker sparkled, picking up an assist with a brilliant through ball for Gylfi Sigurdsson.
The Icelandic international would also score the second for Spurs to give them their third win in four Premier League games this season.
Results: Tottenham 2-0 Norwich; Aston Villa 1-2 Newcastle; Fulham 1-1 West Brom; Sunderland 1-3 Arsenal; Stoke 0-0 Manchester City; Hull 1-1 Cardiff; Manchester United 2-0 Crystal Palace.
