Wes Brown praises Xhaka and Sunderland

Sunderland have gotten off to a fantastic start in the Premier League this season, especially when you consider that they were initially seen as one of the favourites for relegation. With that being said, former Manchester United and Black Cats star Wes Brown is pretty confident that they will be able to stay away from the danger zone between now and May.

Wes Brown is probably best known for his time at Old Trafford, but the defender also had a spell at Sunderland, and the Englishman is ecstatic to see how his former club has performed so far since they got promoted.

After ten matches, Sunderland are fourth in the league, currently occupying one of the Champions League spots, with 18 points and only two losses.

Sunderland won`t be relegation candidates

“The togetherness at Sunderland is key to the way they’ve started the season. I said at the start of the season that if they can stick together they will do well and it will be electric. The fans will be behind them.”

“With this Sunderland team they’ve kept pushing on. Everyone expects the promoted teams to go back down but they’ve got a couple of wins already. The set up is great.”

“You can see they’re enjoying their football. They’ve taken on the challenge of being better than fighting to stay up. It’s a massive start and now you won’t see them as relegation candidates. 4th in the league and 18 points. It’s a very good position.”

Big difference from when I was playing

During Wes Brown`s five-year spell at Sunderland, the club never got relegated, but they were fighting against the drop every year, and their best position in the league was 13th.

The former defender sees a big difference compared to when he played.

“When Sunderland go forward they look like they’re going to score. When I was at Sunderland, we were a good little team but we couldn’t score goals. You have to put the ball in the back of the net and they’re doing it now.”

“When I was at the club we were drawing against Liverpool, drew two more and lost one. We were like second from bottom having only lost one game. Mentally, it was tough and drained us.”

As of this writing, Sunderland are priced at 4/1 to surpass all expectations and finish in the top half of the table. If you fancy backing those odds, you can use our bet calculator to see how much you could stand to earn if they can keep this momentum going through the remainder of the campaign.

Xhaka is the dad of the team

Mukiele and Xhaka were brought in during the summer, and Brown has been very happy with what he has seen from them so far. He recently called Xhaka the dad of the team, as he has helped to settle everything down since his arrival.

“Mukiele looks sharp and quick. He can handle this league. Xhaka, for me, is like the dad of the team in the middle. We know how good he can be and now the manager has asked certain things from him and he settled everything down.”

“He’s got everyone following how he plays. They don’t look panicked and he’s the boss of the midfield. If you have any issues you give him the ball. That’s where, to me, he’s the guy the other lads look up to.”

Sunderland will next face Arsenal at the Stadium of Light this weekend. Arsenal are leading the Premier League with 25 points ahead of Manchester City with 19 points.

Read more as Wes Brown gives his thoughts on the future of Manchester United sensation Kobbie Mainoo