THE BREAKDOWN: The secrets of Sunderland's success - the stat that proves Granit Xhaka and Noah Sadiki's extraordinary impact, how they use 'little triangles' in attack and the quality that sets Regis Le Bris apart from the rest

Sunderland clearly did not receive the memo. Promoted sides are not supposed to enjoy Premier League life as much as this, and certainly not a club that has been away for nearly a decade.

Newly-promoted clubs are supposed to go straight back down again. They are supposed to toil and suffer and prove that no amount of summer spending will be enough to keep you here. Did they not notice that all six promoted clubs over the past two seasons went straight back down again? Did they not read all the pieces about how it’s impossible to stay up these days?

This was a side, after all, that finished 24 points behind Burnley and Leeds in the race for automatic promotion in the Championship. One that needed a dramatic late goal to send them up via the play-offs.

Yet here they sit, fourth in the table after a stunning late win over Chelsea that briefly moved them second. Their 17 points from their opening nine Premier League games is the best by a promoted club since Hull in 2008.

Only five promoted clubs in Premier League history have taken more from their opening nine games than Sunderland – all of them, including the Black Cats in 2000, stayed up. On the evidence so far, this side will do the same. How on earth have they done it?

XHAKA THE LYNCHPIN

Remember when Granit Xhaka was deemed an Arsenal liability? Rash challenges, red cards, anything but a player on to whom’s shoulders you could pin your team’s hopes and responsibilities.

Not anymore. The 33-year-old summer signing from Bayer Leverkusen has become the rock on which Regis Le Bris has built his Sunderland side.

He does everything, everywhere, all of the time. He’s run the furthest of any player in the Premier League this season. 

He’s had the most touches of any Sunderland player and played the most passes, including the most into the final third and the most into the penalty area. Xhaka has created the most chances, provided the most assists and he’s won possession more often than anyone else, and won the most duels. 

He was as imperious as ever against Chelsea. Just check out his touch map against the Blues...

‘Granit is the captain, he sets the standards every day,’ said Le Bris after the Chelsea victory. ‘It’s so important when you start a new career - you can be really talented, really skilled, but you don’t know what the best standards are to succeed at the best level. He sets this example every day. 

'On the pitch he’s a really good footballer and he enjoys driving the vehicle of the squad. He’s like a second coach on the pitch. He’s connected really well with the young lads as well.’

Xhaka’s engine and positional nous not only helps Sunderland without the ball, but also gives his team-mates the freedom to attack.

Le Bris’s Sunderland love to get forward with width. No team has created a lower percentage of their chances through the middle than the Black Cats.

To do that, Le Bris wants to create overloads down the flanks and he often does so by forming little triangles in wide areas between the full backs, wingers and by his central midfielders either side of Xhaka pulling across.

That leaves a hell of a lot of space for Xhaka to patrol. Noah Sadiki’s engine helps with that – ‘he’s the closest to N’Golo Kante I’ve seen’ one Sunderland source told Daily Mail Sport – but Xhaka has so much of it under control.

You can see how much space surrounds him by looking at Sunderland’s average positions against Brentford...

But Sunderland don’t always play this way.

MR FLEXIBLE

One of the main reasons Sunderland have been able to thrive back in the Premier League is having a tactically flexible manager in Le Bris, who is happy to tweak how the Black Cats play to get a result. 

This isn't Burnley under Vincent Kompany or Southampton under Russell Martin, wedded to a single way of playing regardless of outcomes.

They have their foundations. They are aggressive, they never stop running, they never give in. 

Xhaka and Sadiki sit No1 and No2 for the most miles run of any players this term. Sunderland’s seven points won from losing positions is the joint-most in the division. ‘Til the end,’ as their club motto goes.

Sunderland switch between a high press and a low block in the blink of an eye. At Chelsea, Le Bris instructed his front line to push up on goalkeeper Robert Sanchez when the Blues attempted to play out from the back. But whenever Chelsea managed to play through the press and get to the halfway line, Sunderland quickly dropped deep into a 5-4-1.

Sunderland could then soak up pressure and look to spring the counter-attack, as they did for Chemsdine Talbi’s late winner on Saturday.

Le Bris makes sure, though, that it’s not just parking the bus for the sake of it. His players are always looking for the moment to jump forward to try to win the ball.

In the image below, it’s Sunderland centre back Nordi Mukiele who races the furthest forward to put pressure on Moises Caicedo before retreating into the back line.

They pressed high against Aston Villa, too, even with 10 men, to force Unai Emery’s side to go long – something Sunderland love their opponents to do.

DUELS, DUELS, DUELS

All of this is because Sunderland are very, very happy without the ball. Only Burnley, Brentford and Crystal Palace have had less possession this season.

What the Black Cats do better than most, though, is win their battles. In an ever more physical and direct division, dominating your duels has become more vital than ever. None do it as consistently as Sunderland.

Their 53.3 per cent duel success rate as a team is the highest in the league this season. The 71.8 per cent won by £9.5million summer signing Mukiele is the highest of any defender to play 550 minutes not named Virgil van Dijk. They have only conceded  from a set-piece on two occasions all season.

Lump it forward as much as you like, lads. Sunderland will keep gobbling it up.

SHIFTING SHAPES

If there is any player who sums up the tactical nous and flexibility of Le Bris, it’s his use of full back Trai Hume. The 23-year-old has started every league game this season and all but one on the right side of Sunderland’s defence. Only he’s not always there, his role changing depending on the opposition.

When Chelsea pushed into Sunderland’s half, Hume dropped into position on the right of the back five but whenever Sunderland had the ball or were pressing high, he stepped up as a third man in midfield alongside Xhaka and Sadiki to help occupy Chelsea’s duo of Enzo Fernandez and Caicedo, as shown in the image below.

The average positions from the game show that, despite sitting in a 5-4-1 out of possession, Sunderland attacked very much in a 4-3-3.

Against West Ham, Brentford and Palace, however, Hume stayed high and wide to form those triangles in the channels with Sunderland’s wingers and central midfielders, who like to drift towards the touchline. Against Forest, he moved centrally again to force them out wide.

What is so impressive, not just about Hume but the entire new-look Sunderland side, is how clearly they know their roles. When to step up, when to drop back, when to move into midfield, when to press and when to retreat.

That Le Bris has managed to get a team full of 15 new faces to gel this well, this quickly, is a phenomenal achievement.

SUPER SHOT-STOPPER

Sunderland do take risks. They press high, their central midfielders push wide, they do leave themselves open at times. Alejandro Garnacho’s opener for Chelsea came from Sunderland pressing high, losing the second ball when goalkeeper Sanchez went long, and Garnacho exploiting the space left behind the full backs.

While he couldn’t stop it on that occasion, one reason why Sunderland are able to take those risks is because they have a goalkeeper in Robin Roefs ready to produce miracles.

The 22-year-old, a £11.5m signing from NEC Nijmegen already looks to be one of the bargains of the summer. You could, however, say that about plenty of Sunderland’s new faces.

No one has made more saves at a higher rate than Roefs. His 82 per cent save percentage is bettered only by David Raya, but the Arsenal keeper has faced less than half as many shots. 

Roefs’ 33 saves are the second most in the division. He’s kept four clean sheets already. Only Arsenal have conceded fewer goals so far.

There’s a long way to go, of course, but the Black Cats are providing the blue print of how a promoted team can survive in the Premier League.