Sunderland came from behind to secure a crucial win over Crystal Palace on Saturday

Régis Le Bris has praised Trai Hume’s versatility and intelligence as he continues to impress in an unorthodox new role for Sunderland.

With Bertrand Traore ruled out for a further month on his return from AFCON with a knee issue, Sunderland and Le Bris are without a natural right winger in their squad. Le Bris has at times deployed Trai Hume on the right wing as a result, with Sunderland switching between a back five and a 4-4-2 shape within certain games.

Hume was denied his first Premier League goal by an excellent save from Dean Henderson in the latter stages of Sunderland’s 2-1 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday, in which he produced another strong all-round display. While playing a defender on the right wing is an unusual move, Le Bris has explained how it is helping the balance of the side and to bring out the best of Nordi Mukiele from right back.

“Yes, it's an interesting balance,” Le Bris said.

“We have to create something else because we don't have a specific right winger in this position at the moment. I think Trai, with his versatility and the connection with his team-mates in that part of the pitch, is doing really well. He can play outside, he can also compensate for Nordi when he overlaps and crosses. Here, we have a good balance because he's an intelligent and versatile player. It's a good option for us at the moment.”

Chemsdine Talbi will return from AFCON this month to give Le Bris another option on the right flank, though his game time while with Morocco over the last month has been very limited.

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Régis Le Bris reflects on Sunderland’s win over West Ham United

Sunderland’s win leaves them sitting in a very impressive ninth position in the Premier League table, but Le Bris insists no one will be getting carried away as attentions turn to West Ham, who beat Spurs over the weekend.

“Every game is important, and winning in the Premier League is not easy,” Le Bris said.

“I think we have to remind ourselves how tough it is to win a game in this league. This one, I'm really pleased because it was with maturity and with quality on the pitch. We solved progressively the whole problem of the game and created chances. We might have scored even one or two more goals at the end, and it's a good three points. We keep going step by step. We have seven more to win to reach [out first target] of 40 points.

“And I repeat, it's so difficult to win points in this league. So just step by step. We'll have another opportunity at West Ham but it will be a tough gam and we'll see. If we can get three points, we'll be happy and then it will be 36. So it's not achieved once again. So we go step by step, hopefully with consistency, maturity and then we'll see.”

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