Nordi Mukiele has been in fine form since signing for Sunderland this summer

Sunderland full-back Trai Hume has praised teammate Nordi Mukiele for the “reassurance” that he provides in the Black Cats’ defensive third.

The French defender has made an instant impact on Wearside, and has established himself as a key member of Regis Le Bris’ back line in recent weeks. The summer signing was once again in imperious form during his team’s 1-1 draw with Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon, lining up beside Hume as the right-sided centre-back in a four.

And speaking after the final whistle at the Stadium of Light, Hume shed some light on what it is like to play alongside Mukiele.

What did Trai Hume say about Sunderland teammate Nordi Mukiele?

When asked about his new teammate, Hume said: "He's very strong defensively. He's a big boy, he's very athletic. It suits him whenever teams want to run in behind because he's got the pace to match them.

"Even players like [Jean-Philippe] Mateta at [Crystal] Palace he matched him and he's a big boy. I think having Nordi beside you, you always have that reassurance that he'll have your back no matter if it's in behind or someone skips past you. He'll always be there covering, so yeah, it's been good."

Reflecting on the contest more broadly, and how a first-half sending off for Reinildo Mandava affected the encounter, Hume said: "It was tough, obviously I've not seen it back so don't know if it was a red or not but things like that happen. I think throughout the second half we tried to get up the pitch and create chances whenever we needed to from set pieces.

"I think overall, a draw is probably a fair result. We stuck together as a team, we have good togetherness and we believe in what we're told to do. Even with ten men, Regis came in at half-time and gave us details about what we need to do and we went out and did it perfectly. We stuck together and created chances when we needed to.”

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Addressing the differences between life in the Premier League and the Championship, the Northern Ireland international added: "It's definitely been a bit different. It's a lot quicker than the Championship but I'm trying my best to bed my way in and try and impress. I think I've done alright to far so hopefully I can kick on.

"If it's the whole team, or the back four and Robin [Roefs], we stick together. We work as a unit and I think that showed over the five games. We've been really defensively solid and that goes throughout the whole team from the front all the way to the back. It's nice to have that faith but we need to keep sticking together.

"I think we know that we're not going to go up against most teams and have most of the ball. We need to be defensively solid and like I said, that starts from the front with the striker and goes through the whole team. We've done that fantastically throughout the first five games and we need to keep that going.”

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