Sunderland face Fulham in the Premier League this weekend.
There have been a number of impressive footnotes to Sunderland’s unexpectedly positive return to the Premier League so far this season.
The Black Cats were, for instance, the last team in the top flight still protecting an unbeaten home record prior to their recent 1-0 reversal at the hands of defending champions Liverpool, and that game also marked the first time since their promotion that they had lost successive league fixtures.
On occasion, it has been easy to forget that Sunderland are a side who were tipped for an immediate and painful relegation back to the Championship by an overwhelming majority of onlookers before the campaign began, and a large part of the reason for that is because they are yet to meet a team who have resoundingly outplayed them over the course of 180 minutes.
Of course, there have been matches where Regis Le Bris’ men have seemed like a much more timid or insipid version of themselves. Away trips to the likes of Brentford and West Ham since the turn of the year spring to mind, amongst other examples. But as things stand, after 26 top flight outings, they are still yet to lose twice to the same team. Even defeats against traditional heavyweights like Arsenal and Manchester City have been counter-balanced by battling draws on home soil, and heading into the final stretch of the season there are just two teams in the entire division who could theoretically do a league double over the Black Cats this term: Manchester United and Fulham.
Which brings us to Sunday’s 2pm kick-off at the Stadium of Light, when Sunderland will play host to Marco Silva’s Cottagers. The last time the two met, down in West London in late November, Le Bris’ side never truly found their rhythm, and were ultimately undone by a late Raul Jimenez strike.
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Reflecting on his side’s performance that afternoon, the Black Cats head coach told a post-match press conference: “It's a good reminder about our basics - if you don't win many duels, if you don't win the second balls, it's not possible to impose something.
“We struggled to create, we struggled today to manage for example when they went long our man from our press we were not efficient, the intention was really positive, we wanted to impose something defensively but we were not good enough to manage the duels so we had to defend probably around our box just after, probably too often and second balls after their long play as well, so basics are really important in football and if you don't win this part, at least 50-50, you can't impose anything. I think it's another good lesson, we have to be at our best, otherwise the opponent can exploit their strength."
And you suspect that Le Bris will be eager to reinforce those “good lessons” over the coming days, as his side prepare for another showdown with an opponent who are currently just one spot and two points beneath them in the table. So far this term, the Frenchman has shown himself to be a master at preserving Sunderland’s resilient streak. If he can do so again this weekend, then it will go a long way towards maintaining one of the Black Cats’ most admirable feats of the campaign thus far.
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