Omar Alderete is an injury doubt for Sunderland’s clash with Arsenal this weekend.
Alderete has missed Sunderland’s last two games due a concussion suffered in the 2-0 win over Wolves, with Régis Le Bris confirming after the 1-1 draw with Everton that Alderete was continuing to experience symptoms.
Sunderland had hoped that the Paraguay international would be through the protocols in time to face Everton but that proved not to be the case, and the Black Cats are understandably continuing to take a cautious approach. At this stage, Sunderland are not yet sure whether he will be ready to face the league leaders at the Stadium of Light on Saturday evening.
Le Bris said: “We don’t know yet [whether he’ll be fit to face Arsenal], he had a residual symptom, so we have to assess his health.”
Sunderland were handed a boost on Monday night with Simon Adingra fit to take his place in the squad after a minor hamstring issue, while Dan Neil was also able to take his place on the bench after recovering from a minor concussion.
Régis Le Bris praises Granit Xhaka after his first Sunderland goal
Sunderland battled back from a poor start against Everton to take a point, thanks to a second-half goal from Granit Xhaka. Le Bris underlined the importance of his captain after the game, and was even asked if he felt he might be the best midfielder in the Premier League.
“I’m happy to have this kind of player,” Le Bris said.
“He wants to play football, he wants to be competitive, he’s always connected with the game, he sets the standards, so it’s so important for us.
“Best midfielder in the league? I don’t know, because we have in this league many really good players, we love Granit, so probably we won’t be a good judge in this situation. He’s really important, I think he enjoys playing with us as well, because the lads are well connected with him, with the way of playing, they want to fight until the end, so I think they like their behaviour as well.”
What Régis Le Bris made of Sunderland’s performance against Everton
“We didn’t start well, or the opponents started really well, they were better than us, they were dominant,” Le Bris said.
“We were not composed on the ball and we turned the ball over many times, so it was like we fed their dynamic, because they like spaces, they like counter-attacks, they like 1v1s, Grealish, Ndiaye… they are really good when they have space to exploit, and because of our turnovers it was possible to do that.
“Later in the game I think we were more composed and we dominated the game, but these first 30 minutes were not at the level of the Premier League. I think it was connected with the game plan, we didn’t find out something new, it was just a question of doing, and sometimes you can understand where are the spaces, how you can manage the build-up, the progression phase and so on, but it’s much harder to do it on the pitch, so it was a question of quality at that minute, but we switched on a bit later and we are back in the game.
“What I can say is that Everton worked hard the first part of the game, they defended well, they ran everywhere and it was tough to break this pressure, so it’s a question now of level, we have to lift this part of our game, but I think we have this quality, but we are still a really young team, so we need experiences and with back and forth we will improve our level.”
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