Sunderland have a big game at home to Stoke tomorrow, but who are their main players to keep an eye on?
LYNDEN GOOCH
Gooch remains extremely popular on Wearside and right now, we could do with a player of his experience and commitment. Of course, he had spent his entire senior career (and the vast majority of his junior career) on Wearside playing 247 games for Sunderland before joining Stoke in the Summer. Him having only recently departed Sunderland will certainly make a valuable asset to Stoke today as he'll know many of our players. This is his first game back at the Stadium of Light and it's guaranteed that, should he start, he'll receive a warm welcome.
ANDRE VIDIGAL
Stoke's top scorer so far this campaign is Portuguese left-winger Vidigal, with six goals in 22 games. This is the 25 year old's first time playing in English football, with previous spells in Portugal, the Netherlands and Cyprus. Stoke podcast The Wizards Of Drivel described him as a "tricky winger capable of creating something, but inconsistent. He’ll probably wind your fans up by hitting the deck when tackled but on form he’s great to watch". Still quite young, clearly very talented and also clearly not having been slowed down by having to adjust to the style of play in England, he definetly will cause Sunderland some problems today but we should be able to contain him hopefully.
DANIEL IVERSEN
The keeper has joined Stoke this January on loan from Leicester, following Mark Travers' return to Bournemouth. Iversen is a great shot-stopper who we've been linked to in the past. He's played twice already in the league and kept one clean sheet. Mark Travers was a top keeper for the Potters, but Iversen looks like the right man to plug that gap until the end of the season.
KI-JANA HOEVER
Next up is Dutch U21 international Ki-Jana Hoever, who is currently Stoke's joint top assister this campaign with two. After moving from his native Netherlands to Liverpool, he made a few scattered appearances for the giants before transferring to Wolves. The youngster made no appearances for Wolverhampton last season and as such was loaned out to PSV. Although he also found game time there hard to come by, at least he came away with a John Cruyff Shield win on his CV however. Because of this he was loaned out to Stoke in January and Hoever finally found consistent game time and clearly this is a good environment for the 21 year old because he's once again been loaned out for this season. He is a wing back who favours the right hand side (but can also play on the left) and Ki-Jana is definetely one of Stoke's better players.
RYAN MMAEE
While Stoke fans are the first to admit that Mmaee hasn't had his shooting boots on this season, he still managed to score against us earlier this season. That was one of his four goals so far, making him their second-top scorer. Coincidentally, if Mmaee scored four goals in this sunderland side it would also make him joint second-top scorer for us. Last time the two teams met, Mmaee scored a controversial goal which seemingly came after a handball. The 'Mmaeestro' will be desperate to find the net after scoring just once in his last ten appearances.
