MOMENTUM is everything in football.

Sir Alex Ferguson always maintained that if you stop moving forward, you move backwards. Sir Isaac Newton’s first two laws of physics state that an object at rest tends to stay at rest; while an object in motion tends to stay in motion.

It’s difficult to argue with physics, even if Newton, at the time of writing, has never won a Premier League title. And so, Sunderland are finding it very hard to gain their first win in the Premier League this season.

Gus Poyet’s side are trundling towards inertia, and while a similar malaise was corrected late last season by Connor Wickham’s jump-start, there is seemingly little of the magic in the ranks with five games down already.

As with Sunderland’s other draws this term, there has been nothing much wrong with the performances – they rode their luck against Spurs but could have won late on – but the Black Cats seem one killer pass, one incisive finish away from being a solid team.

Everything just seems to be ‘OK’. And, as Poyet says himself, OK is not enough in the top flight.

“As long as we keep getting points and moving up the table, but we need to perform better and I am looking for performances,” said Poyet after his side’s 0-0 draw at Burnley.

“We played better against QPR and we lost, so you sometimes get compensated.

“In the first two or three we had a performance for part of the game, then we had a very difficult game against Tottenham and Burnley was just OK. That is not enough.

“You need to perform well, to be better, to make better decisions and finish better. We didn't.

“We were in that situation where we were motivated, and for some reason the team clicked.

“At the moment we are not playing terrible but not playing fantastic, and we are still trying to find our rhythm that is going to give us the first win.

“We have an opportunity at home now in the Cup and the two Premier League games especially, which we need to and we must win one. If not I will kill myself!

Burnley went into the game as the Premier League’s lowest goalscorers, with one goal to their name so far. And, after a dour opening 45 minutes at Turf Moor, it was easy to see why.

The Clarets had their chances in a jittery start for Sunderland, but were unable to make them count.

Kieran Trippier fired a low shot into Vito Mannone’s hands with two minutes on the clock, before former Middlesbrough striker Lukas Jutkiewicz brought a save out of the Italian after Lee Cattermole’s poor defensive header dropped into the forward’s path.

Sunderland registered their first effort in anger on 11 minutes when Emanuele Giaccherini curled into Tom Heaton’s hands, but Burnley went on the attack again with David Jones firing low into Mannone’s gloves after good support work from George Boyd.

Sunderland settled soon after, and began to stroke the ball about well, and their second chance of the afternoon came on 22 minutes when Seb Larsson crossed, Connor Wickham headed on and Jack Rodwell nodded straight into the hands of Heaton.

Sunderland came out of the blocks the better side after the restart, with Jack Rodwell making Heaton work hard with a low fizzing shot from 20 yards, before Giaccherini flashed a ball across the face of goal which Burnley cleared to safety.

Burnley, however, had the best chance of the game on 68 minutes when Scott Arfield shot towards Mannone’s near post, but the Italian got down well and pushed the ball around the post.

In the aftermath, there were appeals by Burnley for a penalty when Giaccherini felled Ashley Barnes, but although Anthony Taylor did not award it, the challenge was of particular cost to Sunderland as the Italian playmaker could not continue afterwards and was replaced by Will Buckley.

Burnley hit the crossbar with three minutes to play, Ashley Barnes rattling the woodwork after Jutkiewicz again raced clear of Sunderland’s backline.

Van Aanholt hit the post for Sunderland in injury time when the Dutchman fired one in from 25 yards, rebounding off the woodwork then off the back of Heaton’s heels to safety.

The Black Cats now look towards the Capital One Cup tomorrow, where Stoke City will provide stiff opposition at the Stadium of Light. Poyet will consider his team carefully, and believes the game is an opportunity for those players who have not featured in the Premier League this season to prove the manager wrong.

“I want to wait and see if I need to make a few changes,” said Poyet. “It might be, because there are players there who cannot play three games in a row.

“We are going to use the squad, and it is a good opportunity for some of the players to show me that maybe I am making a mistake by not playing them, and that they are the ones who are going to win a game for us in the Premier League.”