Sunderland skipper Granit Xhaka names the three fixtures he’s most looking forward to this season

Sunderland captain Granit Xhaka has named the three fixtures he is most looking forward to in the Premier League this season – placing the Tyne–Wear derby against Newcastle United firmly at the top of his list.

The Swiss international joined the Black Cats from Bayer Leverkusen in a £17.5million deal over the summer and has quickly established himself as a leader in Régis Le Bris’ squad. Asked during an interview which games he was most excited about, Xhaka made it clear that facing Sunderland’s fierce rivals Newcastle was his number one priority.

“Okay, so this one is not so complicated, for sure. Newcastle first,” Xhaka said. “Yeah. I know what it means for Sunderland, for the fans, for the football club to have this derby. I have many, many derbies in my career. But I hear this one will be maybe the craziest what I've had in my career. And I want to be there on the pitch and to feel it and just to enjoy the moment.”

The 33-year-old midfielder went on to name Arsenal – the club where he spent seven years and made nearly 300 appearances – as second on his list, also revealed that he remains in contact with coaches and players at the London club.

“Second is my ex-ex-club, let's say. Where I've been for seven years, had seven fantastic years there,” Xhaka added. “Even today, the contact is there with the coaches, with the players, with the members of the club, and I'm just thankful for everything.”

Completing his personal ranking, Xhaka also referenced Tottenham Hotspur – a team he knows well from his time in North London. “And of course, Tottenham, because I have the derby as well, Arsenal, Tottenham, in the stadium, the atmosphere there. And this is my ranking from one to three.”

All being well, Xhaka will lead Sunderland out at the Stadium of Light for the first league Wear-Tyne derby in almost a decade when Newcastle visit later this season – a fixture already circled on the calendars of supporters across Wearside and beyond.

Trai Hume reacts to first goal for Northern Ireland

Sunderland right-back Trai Hume says his first senior international goal is a moment he will “cherish” for the rest of his life.

The 23-year-old found the net during Northern Ireland’s 2-0 victory over Slovakia on Friday evening, producing a composed left-footed volley from the edge of the area after goalkeeper Martin Dubravka failed to clear a cross. It was a landmark moment for Hume, who was making his 25th appearance for Michael O’Neill’s side. Reflecting after full-time, the Sunderland man admitted the strike will live long in his memory.

“We’re all even on six points and now the game on Monday [against Germany] is even bigger than it was before,” Hume said. “We’ll go into it, prepare, recover and be ready to try and win. It was a great feeling, my first goal, and hopefully I can chip in with some more. I’m not much of a goal-scorer so it’s not something I’d have thought of. It’s one of the moments you’ll cherish for the rest of your life. I had a lot of family there, girlfriend, so it’s good to have them there to enjoy it.”

The full-back also praised Northern Ireland’s pressing and intensity, which helped them secure a valuable three points at Windsor Park. “Throughout the week we spoke about getting a lot of pressure high up the pitch, bringing the game to them,” he added. “We’re at home, we want to ask questions and work hard. We were able to do that. Michael gave us the gameplan and all we had to do was go out and do that.

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“I thought we were excellent through the 90 minutes and thoroughly deserved the three points. We were the better team, we brought the game to them. We probably could have had more on the night, we created a lot of chances. Hopefully it’ll be the same again on Monday.”

Hume continued: “I said it before we played [Iceland in June], we have a good record at home. We want to keep that. This is home, where we play, we have to be hard to beat, work hard. I didn’t know we’d kept that many clean sheets at home but it’s great, we have to keep that going.”

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