A number of Sunderland signings have made huge impressions on Wearside this season

On Monday evening, David Moyes - a man whose name is synonymous on Wearside with relegation and the first slippery steps of a spiral down through the divisions - will return to the Stadium of Light.

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since the Scot left Sunderland. For his part, he has taken over at West Ham, left the Hammers, rejoined them, won a European trophy, parted company with them again, and then sealed an emotional homecoming to Everton. Meanwhile, the Black Cats have suffered successive relegations, plumbed the depths of League One, fought back up through the Championship, and now find themselves in the midst of a Premier League title charge. I jest, of course - please don’t call me delusional on the forums.

But in spite of all of that recent history, I have found myself thinking a fair bit about Moyes’ final game in charge of Sunderland over the past week or so. I think in some respects that is quite natural; he is, after all, set to bring his current Everton side to the North East in the coming days, and coincidently, his final bow came at Stamford Bridge - a ground that the Black Cats returned to for the first time in the better part of a decade on Saturday afternoon, sealing a remarkable late win in the process.

It was a far cry and a sharp contrast from their last trip to West London, during which Moyes watched on as his team were thrashed 5-1 and then, to all intents and purposes, took part in an in-game guard of honour for the retiring John Terry. The whole thing felt, for want of a better word, spineless.

So now, eight years later, how do Sunderland go about learning from the mistakes that led them to that whimper of an afternoon? Well, the answer, it would seem, is that they install a spine.

To be clear, this is not a slight on the likes of Anthony Patterson, Luke O’Nien, and Dan Neil, who were all magnificent last season, who have all given everything to the club, and who all, you would imagine, still have notable roles to play for Regis Le Bris’ squad. But at some point over the summer, a decision was evidently made that if Sunderland were to return to the Premier League as a different Sunderland from the one who left it in 2017, then they needed to supercharge their ranks with a certain measure of quality in key areas.

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And so far, you would have to say that it has worked. Not only are the Black Cats currently fourth in the table, having lost just two of their opening nine matches, but on an individual basis, their new signings are shining consistently and bright.

Goalkeeper Robin Roefs, for instance, is currently the second-highest rated stopper in the Premier League, according to statisticians FotMob, with an average score of 7.44. In the heart of defence, Nordi Mukiele is, at present, the best centre-back in the top flight - and the third-best player in the division overall - with an average of 7.68, while teammates Omar Alderete and Dan Ballard - who, admittedly, isn’t a new signing, but who has taken his game to a whole new level - are both in the top 10. Even in midfield, captain Granit Xhaka reigns supreme, eclipsing all of his peers with an average of 7.54.

And the point is that if this is the calibre of talent that you are building a side around, that you are entrusting with starting berths in some of the most important positions on the field, then you are very probably going to be okay. There’s a long way to go before Sunderland can breathe easy with regards to their survival hopes, but they are well on their way to safety, and a large part of the reason why is that the spine of their starting XI now looks ironclad.

At the very least, you would have to say that they appear to be a completely different proposition from the one that Moyes was able to serve up during his ill-fated tenure on Wearside, and the hope will be that he finds that out first hand on Monday night.

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