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Sunderland are back in action at the Stadium of Light when they face Everton
Régis Le Bris has named an unchanged team to face Everton at the Stadium of Light on Monday night.
The Sunderland head coach has opted to stick with Lutsharel Geertruida after his very solid full debut at Stamford Bridge, which would appear to suggest the Black Cats will persist with a back five. Omar Alderete remains absent as he recovers from a concussion, but Simon Adingra is back on the bench after recovering from a minor hamstring injury.
Dan Neil is also fit to take his place on the bench after recovering from a concussion of his own.
Sunderland XI: Roefs; Hume, Mukiele, Ballard, Geertruida, Reinildo; Sadiki, Xhaka, Traore, Le Fee; Isidor
Subs: Patterson, Adingra, Brobbey, Mayenda, O'Nien, Masuaku, Neil, Rigg, Talbi
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What Le Bris said about his big selection dilemmas in his pre-match press conference
Le Bris explained in his pre-match press conference why he had switched to a back five against Chelsea, and why it wasn’t a major change.
Le Bris said: “For Chelsea, yeah, 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,” Le Bris said.
“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 also backed Bertrand Traore, who will start his fourth game in a row tonight.
“I’m really happy with Bertrand,” Le Bris said.
“He's a different character, a different type of player as well. He didn't connect early with us and struggled a bit during the pre-season because he had an injury. He missed probably two weeks. We were aware that his fitness level wasn't the best when he came here. Now, he's training really well. He understands the game model, the way we want to play in this position especially. He's the captain of his national team, so he has a different personality, a different character, and he's improving a lot.”
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