Sunderland’s captain will have a big role to play in a crucial week of fixtures

Régis Le Bris has hinted that Granit Xhaka is in contention to return to the Sunderland starting XI at Bournemouth on Saturday lunchtime.

Xhaka made his return from the ankle injury that kept him sidelined for the best part of a month in the second half of the 3-1 defeat to Fulham last Sunday. The Sunderland head coach said afterwards that he extent of his involvement on the south coast this weekend would depend on how he reacted to that outing, and in his pre-match press conference on Thursday afternoon offered a positive update.

Le Bris kept his cards close to his chest on whether Xhaka would start and did make clear that his minutes would have to be managed in a busy week of three away games, but the 33-year-old is making positive progress.

“He might be [able to start],” Le Bris said.

“Because he's in a good place now - so we'll be really progressive. He reacted really well after this game, so it's always a step-by-step process and the minute he's in a good place.”

Xhaka’s return is crucial to Sunderland in and out of possession, and also because it allows Noah Sadiki to play further forward in a role that better suits his energetic style.

“For our first season in the Premier League, our setup is good when we have our main players available,” Le Bris said.

“But when one big player is missing, it was the case for Granit, we don't have a specific profile to replace him. So we are working with more versatile players. So they can do the job, but it doesn't fit exactly their profile. And 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.

Granit has this ability to stay really consistent with the ball. When it's not on, pass, pass, pass, pass. When it's on, he can play forward. And this is rare. So 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.

“So this part of our game is really strong. And really, he's important as well. So he's a good player, a really good player. So when he's not on the team, you can expect something. Even if we can counterbalance with more energy, more creativity and so on, it's not easy to do that.”

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Xhaka’s return a boost for Sunderland after flurry of injuries

The return of Xhaka and Bertrand Traore, who resumed full training this week, is a huge boost for Le Bris after ruling out a number of players for the upcoming fixtures at Bournemouth, Leeds and one of Port Vale or Bristol City.

“It might be a difficult injury for Romaine [Mundle], Le Bris said.

“He might be out for a few weeks, maybe a month. We still have some assessments to make but we'll have a clearer picture soon. It's still early to say if it's exactly the same injury he's had before, but the early indications are it is not positive.

“Jocelin might be in the same position as Romaine for a different injury, he might need surgery. It's still a bit early but a few weeks, month... [maybe more]. So with Nordi and Brian, it will be a bit shorter. It will be between two and four weeks, depending on how they respond to the treatments and the rehab.

“Dennis and Rei are getting better, we miss them but they are getting better. The timeline should be shorter for Dennis, maybe around ten days, but again it will depend on the end of the process.”

Your next Sunderland read: Everything Le Bris said in his press conference ahead of Bournemouth