Billy Jones has got on the good side of boss, David Moyes since returning from injury after putting in a series of consistent performances.

Even though his place in the starting line-up has been under threat for several years but it seems he has now finally claimed his place in the side on a regular basis. For the past several years Antoine Reveillere, Santiago Vergini, and last season's loanee DeAndre Yedlin have all found themselves getting opportunities ahead of him and with Jones' injury troubles being added to the mixture it has appeared to be a difficult time for the former West Brom player.

Impressing the boss

However, now Jones is getting his chance to prove himself and he has made his mark on the side in the last four games where Sunderland's performances have been drastically better and Moyes himself has spoken about the fact he is "playing well" at the moment. Jones has been in good form and that is something that Moyes has "not been surprised" by that stating that it has only been "his injuries" that were "holding Billy back."

Jones has taken the place from Javi Manquillo who was brought in on loan from Atletico Madrid in the summer and whilst Moyes was adamant Manquillo has not "played badly" he did feel that Sunderland "needed to find another solution for what we were doing" and therefore Jones is in the side "at this moment."

Moyes looking for experience over youth at the moment

Moyes revealed that when he took over as Sunderland manager there was a "feeling" that Jones had "not done that well" but even though the experienced manager had not known him "personally" he did know of him. Moyes had seen Jones playing for both West Brom and Preston North End and always felt that he was a "steady-Eddy type of player" who wouldn't "let you down often" and now he has the chance to prove that for the Black Cats.

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About the author
Matthew Wilkinson
Huddersfield University in Sports Journalism. Twitter- MC_Wilkinson1