Are you watching, Thomas Tuchel? Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s scoring streak continues

Sunderland’s ability to cope without several key players owing to the Africa Cup of Nations faces another test this afternoon as they host a resurgent Leeds United.

Daniel Farke’s team’s improvement since they switched to a 5-3-2 at half-time of their game at Manchester City has been remarkable, with home wins over Chelsea and Crystal Palace and creditable draws against Brentford and Liverpool. West Ham’s dismal defeat by Fulham yesterday means Leeds have the chance to pull nine points clear of the relegation zone with a win.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin is fit and scoring again, in partnership up front with Noah Okafor, while Ethan Ampadu is pulling the strings in midfield. Farke has described Ampadu as one of the Premier League’s best defensive midfielders.

The German said: “He’s wearing the captain’s armband, but each month he’s fulfilling this role even better because for a captain he’s still quite young and I’ve always said there’s even more to come.

“But so far I would say he is one of the best midfielders in this league in this defensive role and hopefully he can deliver his quality over the coming weeks and months.”

Granit Xhaka’s midfield partner Noah Sadiki, Chemsdine Talbi, Reinildo Mandava, Bertrand Traore and Arthur Masuaku are the Sunderland players at Afcon, but they defied some pessimistic predictions to take a point from Brighton last time out.

Sunderland are unbeaten at the Stadium of Light this season, and would climb above Chelsea into fifth should they prevail in this game. Regis Le Bris’ team have scored only twice in their last four games, though.

Le Bris said: “If you think about foundations, often you start with the defensive shape, then you work on your build-up, the progressive phase and then you finish in the final third.

“I think now we have a better control of the ball and we are more confident like we did at Brighton for example, to build up under pressure against a strong press.

“Now we have to fine tune this last part and it’s sometimes a question of corrective behaviours but it’s also a question of confidence or game time.

“It’s not the easiest part but I’m not worried about this part.”

Full team news on the way shortly.