Sunderland host Everton at the Stadium of Light looking to continue their run of form
Sunderland's Dutch defender Lutsharel Geertruida
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Head coach Regis Le Bris has implied Sunderland could revert to a back four as his in-form team take on Everton at the Stadium of Light tonight.
The Black Cats take part in the weekend’s final clash against former Sunderland boss David Moyes and his Everton side.
In the last Premier League game against Chelsea – which resulted in an outstanding 2-1 victory – Le Bris opted for a back five and the ploy worked a treat.
In that game he handed Lutsharel Geertruida his first start in the heart of defence, to bolster the ranks against one of the division’s top teams.
The Black Cats fought back from an early goal to seal a famous win, but the head coach says it doesn’t mean the switch is permanent and Le Bris insisted it wasn’t even because it was an away game despite needing to nullify Chelsea’s obvious threats.
He pointed out that the team have been close to playing that shape within games, highlighting Granit Xhaka’s habit of dropping into the back four.
Whether he will revert to a back four because Sunderland are at home is not yet clear and we will find out this evening.
“I don’t know yet, we’ll see,” Le Bris said of his formation dilemma in his pre-match press conference.
“For Chelsea, yes, I think before, in the beginning of the season, we used often this back five for deep block, for example using Granit who dropped into the back four, but for this game at Chelsea, it was obvious that because of their quality, we decided to press high, then to remove the mid block and to go deeper with a deep block with a back five, which worked well I think. So now for Everton it will be a new story, a new challenge, we’ll see.
“Playing at home doesn’t really make a difference [to the formation], because it will be another tough challenge, so after that you have to decide according to the players we have, the availability and the opponent, what will be the best plan, but we’ll see.”
Le Bris said that his team are working on their tactical flexibility and that he believes it could be key in their bid to avoid the drop back to the Championship.
“Yes, absolutely,” Le Bris said. “I think we played before with a back five so I’m not sure that it was a real surprise.
"But for us, it’s important to manage different shapes against different opponents, different moments during the game as well and different phases because we can play with a back five in the deep block, the mid-block, change the structure in the mid-block, defend differently, higher up the pitch.
"So it’s a question of flexibility and I think we are getting better in that part of the game.”
Le Bris has also confirmed that Omar Alderete and Simon Adingra are in contention to return to the matchday squad.
Alderete was absent for the first time this season at Stamford Bridge having suffered a concussion in the 2-0 win over Wolves a week previous, while Adingra was left out as a precaution having experienced some muscle tightness in the build up to the game.
Both have trained in the build up to Everton’s visit, however, and should retake their places in the squad.
“He’s getting better, trained normally with the squad, he’s on the way,” Le Bris said of Alderete.
“He is still a doubt for Everton because he is in the concussion protocols, but we hope that he will be out of them. Simon Adingra missed the Chelsea game because he had a small hamstring injury, but it was not serious. He missed one weekend but he is available.”