The Regis Le Bris Newcastle United Press Conference has taken place.
The Sunderland boss talking to journalists on Friday.
Only a couple of days to go now until the derby match.
Sunderland having won only one of their last six Premier League matches.
Whilst the last three and a half months, from September onwards, have seen Sunderland win only two home games.
Regis Le Bris Newcastle United Press Conference:
“We are playing Newcastle at home, so it is a privilege.
“We are so happy to live this experience at Stadium of Light against one of the best rival in the league.
“At home, we have this advantage and we have to take the most of it.
“So it will be important as usual. We play with this energy and this extra energy can help the project.
“We had good experiences at the Stadium of Light this season.
“It was loud and I expect that it will be louder against Newcastle.
“So far, the players use this energy really well, to raise the momentum, to push, to change the dynamic of the game, what was needed. So I hope will be the case once again.
“The players are aware of the situation but when you are on the pitch and you feel this energy, I can say that for us and for the opponent, the effect is massive. Very massive.
“We are exactly where we want to be.
“So it’s really exciting for our fans, for our players, and we’ll go into this this game with humility, but ambition and desire to win as well. So that’s very positive.
“Newcastle United are intense, well organized.
“They have good players.
“The bench is big as well, so they have a clear identity, so with strength, but weaknesses like everyone in this league. So we’ll try to exploit some of them and I hope it will work.
“If we think that the game will be easier because we had the good start of the season, I think it’s a problem.
“We played so far really well, especially at home, because we had this mindset to be it’s like our first Premier League and we will play with ambition, with energy, but we will make mistakes that we will be ready to manage through the energy of the squad.”
Regis le Bris on team news for Sunday:
“Denis Cirkin is ready and trained properly. Now probably two or three weeks. He’s connected with the group, and it’s good news, because now we don’t have many injuries”
“Habib Diara will train with the group next week, fully train, ready to go. Probably needs one or two weeks to be at his best after a good rehab program and after that, and depends on Afcon and so on. But we needed to build his fitness level and he will be ready.
“The decision is with the national team if they want to select the player for camp.”
My thoughts
It is a first ever Sunderland v Newcastle derby for Regis Le Bris.
Eddie Howe with the advantage of having already overseen one with United.
That one in January 2024 saw Newcastle United hammer Sunderland 3-0 on Wearside.
A repeat of that would do nicely.