Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus says the club must achieve “something extraordinary” to stay in the Premier League this season.
The newly promoted side have impressed early on, collecting 18 points from their first 10 matches to sit fourth in the table after a hard-fought draw against Everton, where captain Granit Xhaka scored in the second half.
Many expected Sunderland to struggle following promotion, with most tipping them to battle relegation like last season’s bottom three. But the 27-year-old Louis-Dreyfus believes his team are defying expectations.
“I think the stats showed to us that unless you do something extraordinary, you’re likely going to go back to the Championship,” he told Sky Sports.
“For us, we didn’t really set a strict budget. We just had an ambition to bring in the players we wanted, and fortunately, many of those deals got done.”
However, Louis-Dreyfus warned that challenges remain, acknowledging that much of Sunderland’s squad is still made up of Championship-level players.
“Things can change quickly in this league,” he added. “We’re ready for anything, but our ambition remains strong.”
