Prior to Sunderland's last-gasp Europa League win at Portuguese second-tier side Torreense, Black Cats boss Regis le Bris said "progress is never a straight line" as he looks to juggle his team's season alongside European football.

The Wearside club have picked up four points from a possible 18 and sit one point outside the bottom three in the Premier League as they prepare to face Bournemouth at Vitality Stadium on Sunday (14:00 BST)

"Winning is a process. I always tell the players that it's long, and you can have rewards early, but sometimes that's not the case," he told club media.

"So resilience, consistency, hard work - these are the values of the club. We are well connected because we understand what we have to do."

In their return to the top flight last season, Sunderland took 11 points from their opening six games.

"You learn every day and we were expected to have a tough start to the season. It's the case, playing against Manchester City, Arsenal, Brighton, Brentford away.

"When you get through difficult experiences and you analyse deeply what was useful from those experiences, I think you can get better quickly and rewards will come."

Similar to Sunderland, Bournemouth have also struggled for form after an emphatic 2025-26 campaign.

Le Bris said managing the load of the players is a "difficult topic" but his side "earned" the right to play in Europe this season.

"We enjoy being in that position. It's demanding, but it's clearly what we want to do," he added.