On Palace’s recent injury troubles, Le Bris added: “They are still really strong, they have good players.
“I think it’s the normal pathway of the season – you have injuries, suspensions and players not available – but the depth of the squad is still there, and they have different options.”
Going into the game off the back of an impressive first half to the campaign – with 30 points, seven wins, and just five defeats, so far from their first season back in the Premier League – Le Bris noted: “The target remains the same for us. Data might say something different but we have our own target. We want to reach those 40 points and it’s not done yet.
“If we reach this target, we will set another one straight away but so far, it’s not done. We don’t expect anything from our opponents, we still want to build our season.”
Sunderland Team News
In his pre-match press conference, Le Bris also confirmed forward Brian Brobbey had recovered from a minor hamstring issue sustained in last week’s FA Cup win at Everton, and would be fit to face Palace.
Sunderland will have been hoping to have had two more returning players from the Africa Cup of Nations back in the squad, but Arthur Masuaku and Bertrand Traore both suffered injuries on international duty.
Noah Sadiki and Reinildo are back from Morocco, however, and are available for Saturday’s game, but Chemsdine Talbi and Habib Diarra are still in action for Morocco and Senegal respectively, who will compete in Sunday’s final.
