Sunderland host an out of form Norwich City side, who have won just once in their last eight games. However the Black Cats are also having some difficulties with four defeats in our last six matches. It should be an interesting one at the SoL then.
LAST TIME OUT
In the Canaries’ last fixture they suffered a 2-1 defeat to visitors Middlesbrough. A goal from Jonathan Rowe right at the death turned out to be a consolation as Norwich slumped to 14th in the table. At this stage of the season a poor run of games isn’t a death blow to promotion hopes and the Norfolk side remain just three points off sixth place. That being said, from their perspective their bad run needs to be stopped sooner rather than later and with Sunderland also out of form Saturday may be an ample opportunity to do just that.
Meanwhile Sunderland of course played quite well away to Leicester on Tuesday night but yet another example of silly defending on a corner resulted in a narrow 1-0 defeat at the hands of a James Justin goal. That defeat meant we have now slipped down to 10th in the table, however we are still just one point off of the play off places. Three defeats in a row is still far from ideal, and in fairness we’ve gotten unlucky with refereeing decisions but we need to be more clinical in front of goal. Sunderland have now had 13 shots on target in the last three games, capitalising on just one occasion. This is also a must win for us.
INJURIES/SUSPENSIONS
Starting with the visitors, Jacob Sorensen is a doubt for the game as he recovers from a pelvic injury. So if O’Nien fancies kissing any Norwich players this time, he’ll have to choose someone else. The 25 year old Danish centre-back hasn’t featured so far this campaign. Grant Hanley, Norwich’s club captain, will miss out due to a rather bad Achilles injury that has seen him sidelined since April. Another big blow to our opponents is the absence of prolific striker Joshua Sargent due to an ankle ligament injury. Before he was injured he had scored three and assisted once in the Championship in four games, the USA international not being there is one less issue for Mowbray to worry about. Norwich will also be without their first choice goalkeeper to make their injury list even better for them. Angus Gunn had featured in every Championship game for the Canaries up until being forced off with a muscular injury against Leeds. The final addition to a difficult injury list for Norwich is Ashley Barnes being unavailable for selection, that being because of a knee injury. Barnes has scored twice and assisted once in the Championship.
Meanwhile Sunderland still have a lengthy list of absences but more players are getting closer to a return. Corry Evans of course will not be available until January with an ACL injury. Timothee Pembele is at least four weeks from being available after a recent setback to a cruciate ligament injury. Jay Matete remains unavailable as he continues to recover from a surgery on his knee, the midfielder will return in December. Aji Alese has also recently suffered a setback in his recovery from injury, a return for the centre back will not be for at least another two weeks due to an injury to his thigh. Bradley Dack could make an appearance, the 29 year old suffered his second injury of the season away to Stoke last week, with him inching towards recovering from a hamstring injury. Adil Aouchiche is close to a return after a recent groin injury so may be involved in the action. Eliezer Mayenda could finally make his debut in red and white as he looks to be very close to coming back from a hamstring injury he was unlucky to pick up in his first training session. The young 18 year old striker played in a behind closed doors friendly against Hibs for the U21s and may face his first competitive game tonight against Tottenham U21s. Let’s all hope there are no more setbacks in anyone’s recoveries and that all of the players whose involvement for tomorrow is doubtful are fit enough to be in contention.
PREDICTION
Both sides need a win, and barring a 4-0 whalloping against Middlesbrough and a 6-2 thrashing by Plymouth neither side has been totally battered in their respective bad runs of form. Expect a closely fought contest. We’ll probably have slightly more of the ball, but the last time Norwich didn’t score in a game was mid September at home to Leicester. Therefore I’m going to go with a narrow 2-1 win for the Lads. We'll probably go 2-0 up and then concede mid way through the second half for a nail-biter of a conclusion. If we don’t manage to get three points, the atmosphere could turn very nasty inside the SoL so we need to do everything we can to avoid that. No stupid goals conceded via any corners please! Another important thing we need is one of our strikers finally getting on the scoresheet. Whichever one starts (it will most likely be Burstow) scoring will hopefully kick start their season and they’ll get a few on the bounce after that. Also a goal contribution for Patrick Roberts wouldn’t hurt either to get his season up and running.
