The Black Cats skipper returned to action in last weekend’s defeat to Fulham after recovering from an ankle injury, but was only deemed fit enough to feature in the final 20 minutes of the game.
He has stepped up his training programme at the Academy of Light significantly this week though, with Regis Le Bris hinting he should be able to start at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday.
“He might be able to do that [start at Bournemouth] because he's in a good place now,” said the Sunderland boss. “So, we’ll be really progressive. He reacted really well after this game [against Fulham]. It’s always a step-by-step process, but at the minute he’s in a good place.”
Sunderland picked up just three points from the five league games Xhaka did not start in the last month-and-a-half, with his absence leaving a gaping hole at the heart of midfield.
Noah Sadiki did his best to plug it, but the DR Congo international’s own effectiveness was blunted by having to play in a deeper-lying role and the balance of the rest of Sunderland’s midfield was negatively affected by the enforced reshuffle.
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No one else in the Sunderland squad can replicate Xhaka’s ball-playing capabilities, not to mention his ability to dictate the pace and tempo of a game, attributes that have made him such an integral part of what the Black Cats have done well this season.
“Granit has this ability to stay really consistent with the ball,” said Le Bris. “When it's not on, pass, pass, pass, pass. When it's on, he can play forward. This is rare.
“It sets the tempo, and it gives this first confidence for the build-up. And he's always well-positioned, out of position, to manage counter-attacks as well.
“This part of our game has been really strong, and he’s a really important part of that. He’s a good player, a really good player. When he’s not in the team, you can expect something different. We can try to counterbalance with more energy, more creativity and so on, but it’s not easy to do that.”
Le Bris is having to deal with a host of injury issues at the moment, but while the absence of the likes of Nordi Mukiele, Reinildo Mandava and Brian Brobbey creates problems, none of the current absentees are as difficult to replace on a like-for-like basis as Xhaka.
“For our first season in the Premier League, our set-up is good when we have our main players available,” said Le Bris. “But when one big player is missing, as was the case for Granit, we don’t have a specific profile to replace him.
“We are working with more versatile players, and they can do the job, but it doesn't exactly fit their profile. So, the output of the game is a bit different. It wasn't bad, but it's really obvious that the flow of the game was a bit different.”