Sunderland play Leeds United in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon

Leeds United boss Daniel Farke has admitted that he is “not surprised” by Sunderland’s “remarkable” start to the new Premier League season ahead of the two sides meeting at the Stadium of Light on Sunday afternoon.

The Black Cats finished fourth in the Championship last term, some 24 points adrift of Farke’s title-winning Whites, but have shone ever since they earned a long-awaited promotion back to the top flight via the play-offs, and are currently sixth in the table at the time of writing, just two points outside of the top four.

And while the Leeds head coach has suggested that Regis Le Bris’ men are performing better than anybody could have predicted, he has claimed that he was always of the belief that they had what it takes to thrive at a higher level.

What has Leeds United boss Daniel Farke said about Sunderland?

Speaking in a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, when asked if he was surprised by Sunderland’s recent form, Farke said: “Not surprised, but it's definitely remarkable what they've done. We spoke about how difficult it is for a promoted side to be over the line and to give yourself a chance to stay in this league, and for that their points tally is already on a really good height - and for that, yes, remarkable results.

“But they were one of the best Championship sides last season - perhaps not with a perfect end of the regular season, but then also pretty impressive and effective during the play-offs - and I was expecting that they would do well because their manager is always calm and is doing a remarkable job.

“They had really good recruitment in the summer and my gut feeling was also they wouldn't need to change their style of play too much in comparison to the Championship because even there they were always compact and there was quick transitions and quick attacks... they didn't have to change their style too much for this season where, of course, as a promoted side you have a bit more of an approach where you concentrate on being rock-solid against the ball and to be there with quick transitions.

“So for that I would have backed them even before that they would play a really good season. That they would be on such a good point tally and would be so effective also in the final minutes of the games quite often - I think they won many points in the final minutes as well - you couldn't predict it in this way, but it's impressive and definitely remarkable, yes.”

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Reflecting on his side’s hard-fought clashes with Sunderland last season - one of which ended in a 2-2 draw on Wearside, and the other which required a stoppage time Pascal Struijk winner to separate the two teams - Farke added: “Sunderland were impressive. It's so so difficult to create chance against them. It's difficult to score goals. We found a way to dominate them, at least in periods, and also to score goals against them last season, but it's also a changed set-up.

“They have different types of players and for that we also need a special plan, so I think it will be a different game in comparison to [last week’s 4-1 win over] Crystal Palace - that's definitely for sure, because Sunderland plays differently. But we try again to find a good balance in our plans... for that our game plan has to be spot on, and much more important, the execution of the players has to be on the top level and hopefully we can deliver again.”

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