'Unbelievable': Premier League pundit names three Sunderland stars in his team of the week
Sunderland have continued their impressive start to the Premier League campaign
BBC Sport pundit and former Watford striker Troy Deeney has praised Sunderland's 'unbelievable' defensive performance at Nottingham Forest and named three players in his Premier League team of the week.
Sunderland won 1-0 at the City Ground thanks to a first-half header from Omar Alderete, and the Paraguay defender joins team mates Robin Roefs and Granit Xhaka in winning praise from the former Premier League striker. Deeney says the Black Cats will go 'from strength to strength' as a result of their win, in which they had to soak up a lot of pressure at times.
On goalkeeper Roefs, Deeney said: "The reason Sunderland ended up getting a win at Nottingham Forest was because of him. He made about seven top saves in the game - very good. When he came in there were a lot of question marks around dropping Anthony Patterson who had gone through the leagues with them. Roefs has been solid since he's been in the Premier League."
On Alderete, he added: "That back six had an unbelievable game. They dug in, they ground out a win and it just goes to show, especially for new teams coming up, it doesn't matter how you win. You've just got to get the win and get it done. I thought Alderete was exquisite."
Deeney also praised captain for driving the team forward: "Proper captain's performance. Granit Xhaka has gone in there from Bayer Leverkusen. He is learning, he is holding this group together, holding them all accountable, driving them forward. It was a real dogged performance and he was at the heart of it. That Sunderland win was huge. Away from home against Forest and they got absolutely peppered but just dug in and they will go from strength to strength."
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Chemsdine Talbi delivers verdict on Sunderland’s start to the Premier League campaign
Chemsdine Talbi says Sunderland have shown that they have the belief that they can get a positive result from any Premier League fixture.
Sunderland sealed their third win of the campaign when they beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 at the City Ground on Saturday, taking them to an impressive early points haul of eleven from six games. Talbi says the team believe they can compete in every game and have shown they are aiming for a win week in, week out.
"We are consistently in every game, we know what we need to do," Talbi said.
"And we know that we can take points everywhere, which we did here. We have the team for it. Like I say, we can take points everywhere, even away home. We showed great mentality here, even if it was not our best game. But I think there will be games like this, and we can use free kicks, everything. And we took the three points."
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