Is Sunderland's back five here to stay after Chelsea win?
Sunderland will face Everton in the Premier League on Monday evening.
The Scot returns to the Stadium of Light for their first time as a manager since he suffered relegation with the Black Cats back in 2017, and will come up against a home side who currently sit fourth in the table having taken 17 points from their opening nine fixtures.
For their part, Everton are 14th, six points adrift of their hosts, and suffered a heavy 3-0 defeat at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur last time out. And taking all of that into account, Moyes has hinted that he expects a stern test in the North East.
What has Everton boss David Moyes said about Sunderland?
Speaking in a pre-match press conference on Friday, when asked about Sunderland’s late 2-1 win over Chelsea last weekend, he said: “I don't think it was just their performance at Chelsea. I think their performance all season has been really, really good. I think a lot of people have been surprised by it, but they've got a great crowd behind them. They've been really strong at home as well, but obviously winning at Chelsea for anybody is a big result.
“Actually, it's come back a little bit because in the last recent years, I think there's been a lot of media talk about how the promoted sides tend to go down. I think it sounds as if a lot of them have been listening to that and spent a lot of money trying to make sure that they give themselves every opportunity to stay up. So, I think that Sunderland, Leeds, Burnley are all doing that at the moment. Over recent years, it's not been easy for the promoted teams to do that, but this year they're having the right good go at it.”
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When asked if he expected Sunderland to give his Everton side a good game on Monday, Moyes responded: “Yeah, well, we know that. I don't think here at Everton we've ever thought that the teams coming up wouldn't give us a really good game. But, I do believe that the Premier League has a big strength. There's not much between many of the teams. The games are pretty close. Yeah, there might be a few teams near the top who in the main would be better, but I think the rest of the league is quite competitive and not much between it.”
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