Sunderland continued their very impressive start to the campaign with a win over Nottingham Forest

Gary Neville has praised Sunderland for their fast start to the Premier League campaign, saying the league needed the promoted teams to be more competitive than in previous seasons.

Sunderland claimed their third win of the campaign on Saturday evening, beating Nottingham Forest 1-0 at the City Ground thanks to Omar Alderete's first-half header. Speaking on the Gary Neville podcast, the Sky Sports pundit said he'd been impressed with the team's intent and physicality so far this season. Sunderland currently sit fifth in the Premier League table ahead of Monday night's game, where Everton will take on West Ham United. It will be Nuno's first game in charge of the Hammers, after Graham Potter was sacked over the weekend.

"I haven't seen them live yet but Monday Night Football after the first weekend of the season, they'd played West Ham at home and sometimes you just like what you see," Neville said.

"They're defending for large parts of the game but then they sprint forward, they're putting balls into the box. They play with intent, positivity. They've got a physicality about them. I really like what I've seen. It's brilliant what they've done and we need to see teams who come up from the Championship do well, we really need to see that. it's a big part of the Premier League and teams need to need to be given encouragement without bankrupting themselves. What Leeds and Burnley and Sunderland done, look it will still be difficult as the season goes but it's a great start for them. A great win against Nottingham Forest who are a tough team to play against. A great start for Sunderland, they deserve a special mention."

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Régis Le Bris delivers verdict on Sunderland's start to the Premier League campaign

Régis Le Bris said his Sunderland side won’t be getting carried away despite their excellent start to the season.

Omar Alderete’s set-piece goal saw Sunderland take their eleventh point of the campaign just six games in and while thrilled with the defensive resilience of his team, the head coach said there is still much to improve.

“We can't expect anything if we don't defend properly,” Le Bris said.

“Nottingham Forest are really good on the ball, many threats, many different profiles, wingers, strikers, midfielders, even the defenders are really good on the ball. So it was obvious coming here we had to defend really well, mid-block, low-block even a bit higher in the first half, we did well, not perfectly but enough to keep a clean sheet.

"The result is positive but when you look at the different phases and moments in the game we have many things to improve. We are at the level for some of the parts but for others it's pretty obvious we have to improve. For example, the way we build-up the play under pressure. There's room for improvement.

“The most important thing is to have 11 points. When you can win points, do it because it's not easy. We can't become complacent. That's absolutely impossible. The lads are well connected with this idea. They are proud to win away but aware that we have to be better in many points in our game model.”

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