REGIS Le Bris has waded in on the Sunderland vs Middlesbrough debate, describing Saturday's game as an "interesting fixture" but saying he's "not sure it's a specific derby".

Sunderland's head coach will have his first taste of the encounter when his Black Cats host Boro at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.

It has the makings of being a cracker, with Sunderland having started the season impressively and Boro losing only once in their first five games.

For the visitors and the travelling fans, the game is undoubtedly seen as a derby but plenty of Sunderland fans argue that's not the case on Wearside - with Le Bris questioned on the issue in his pre-match press conference.

He said: "The most important derby from my knowledge is Newcastle. Middlesbrough will be an interesting fixture but I'm not sure for the supporters and fans it's a specific derby."

Asked whether there's an extra edge for players and staff ahead of the meeting of the near-neighbours, Le Bris said: "I don't know for the players. For me, I like every game because it's always a new challenge and every challenge is exciting.

"For the players, I don't know, we will see."

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On the last two occasions Sunderland and Boro have met on Wearside, red cards had major impacts, with Dael Fry getting sent off for the visitors two seasons ago and the Black Cats running out 2-0 winners before Dan Neil was given his marching orders last term. Michael Carrick's side took full advantage, winning 4-0.

Le Bris said: "We can control the emotion if we are focused on the game. We need to concentrate on what we do out of possession, in possession and at different moments of the game.

"When we are focused on the game we can solve this problem. As was the case at Plymouth, sometimes a specific event can change the rationality."

Le Bris himself has prepared for this game as he would any other and done extensive homework on Boro. He says Carrick's side are very "structured" and Sunderland "know exactly how to solve the problem". But knowing how to contain the visitors and identifying vulnerabilities is one thing, executing the plan is another.

He said: "It will be another interesting game against a team with a different style of play. They're a well organised team in and out of possession, with specific attention in the way of building the game.

"They're very narrow and very interesting. For us we will have specific attention on many details and it will be interesting to solve that problem.

"They are very good in possession and very structured with this ability to create in the central corridor.

"They're a very interesting team. We know their strength and know they are very structured.

"We know we can solve that because they don't have random ranges of different attack, so we know exactly how they can beat us which means we know exactly how we solve the problem. Now we need to execute it, which is not always easy."