Sunderland host Preston North End in the Sky Bet Championship Last time out Sunderland lost at QPR and Preston lost to Fulham. The Black Cats will be without suspended Jason Steele, but Jake Clarke-Salter returns from a 3 match suspension. Sunderland will look to bounce back from a disappointing defeat in London with only 9 games left. North End were held to a 2-2 draw against the Black Cats earlier in the season in a tough test at Deepdale, and can expect an equally challenging encounter against a side desperate for points as they look to climb out of the bottom three. Chris Coleman: "I've been here 21 games and that's five games where we've been down to 10 men. You can see on everybody's face 'here we go again' and people lose confidence then because they think that we're never going to get away from where we are.” "We conceded but didn't fold - the one thing the team showed today I thought was a bit of personality. We were gritty and had a go, but we're lacking confidence clearly at both ends of the pitch, where it matters." "It is hard to stay positive but unforgivable to stop fighting" "This is not the place to be if you haven’t got heart or courage. When I arrived I said that someone had to turn this club around. This club will turn, and when it does….” Alex Neil: "I don't think the best team won the game. People talk about Fulham being the best team in the division. I thought we were the better side, we had the better chances. For how much ball we had at the top end of the pitch we need to hurt them a little bit more.” "I thought that my team were brilliant, I really did. I think our naivety at the end is what has probably cost us. I'm critical when I don't think we've played well, but I thought they did everything that I asked of them today." “We’ve got our own ambitions that we want to try and achieve and we’re fighting to try and achieve that as well. Every game between now and the end of the season is going to be really hard fought and I don’t think the Sunderland match will be any different.” Form: Match facts: This is the first meeting between the teams at the Stadium of Light since December 2006 - David Nugent scored the winner in a 1-0 win. Preston haven't won back to back away league games at Sunderland since March 1948. Chris Coleman is averaging 0.85 points per game as Sunderland boss this season, just 0.18 better than his predecessor Simon Grayson managed in his 15 league games in charge (0.67). Alex Neil's only previous league visit to the Stadium of Light ended in victory for his Norwich side in a Premier League match in August 2015. Since the start of the 2007/08 season, Sunderland have won 100 league matches - 35 fewer than any other club to have played in the top four tiers of English football in each of the last 11 seasons. The first halves of Preston's Championship matches this season have seen just 30 goals scored (16 for, 14 against), six fewer than any other Championship team. Sports Analytics Machine: Away win (43%) Prutton predicts: 0-2 Match Appointments: Referee: DARREN BOND Assistants: Andrew Fox and Mark Jones Fourth Official: Matthew Dicicco Team Line ups Sunderland: Substitutes: Stryjek, Love, Hume, Embleton, Robson, Gooch, Molyneux Injured: Watmore (Cruciate – out for season), Browning (Groin – out for season), Ruiter (Dislocated finger 3 weeks), Williams (Quad 4 weeks), Gibson (back in training), McNair (Groin 1 week), Wilson (back in training) Suspended: Steele (1 match ban) Forgotten: Rodwell Preston North End: Rudd, Fisher, Huntington, Davies, Cunningham, Pearson, Johnson, Robinson, Browne, Barkhuizen, Maguire Substitutes: Clarke, Horgan, Harrop, Gallagher, Woods, Maxwell, Bodin Injured: tbc Betting Odds: H 11/5 A 13/10 D 11/5 My two pence: The only good thing coming out of last week’s game is that Steele is out and Stryjek will be on the bench. Time to throw in more of the young lads, I'd also like to see Molyneux, Embleton and Hume on the bench at least. Cattermole and Fletcher need to be dropped. My guess is a 2-2 draw Ha’way the Lads
Good thread mate, hope the lads put in as much effort! Draw not good enough, need to win. Going for a 3-2 cracker. Fletcher needs binning entirely, the goals will come from the wings, reckon McGeady will turn up (he's due to again some time soon...)
My best mate is a Preston season ticket holder so I am going for a 3 1 home win just to wind the twat up.
Agree with your two pence, time to mix things up and try a few of the youngsters. Sick and tired of seeing Catts and Sheasy being revived from their cryogenic chambers to hobble around the pitch. I think Parker said that statistically Honeyman is our best CM so he deserves a start. At least he's mobile. Your team is spot on I reckon.
I'm going 3-0 to the lads at half-time before the snow kicks in and it gets postponed. We then lose the re-scheduled fixture 1-0 in front of a crowd of 46. That's 46, not 46 thousand BTW. Does anyone know where Rochdale's ground is...?
McGeady hates Preston as he gets a lot of stick from their fans! He was excellent at deepdale and hopefully he'll do it again tomorrow if he starts! Just wish I had some faith - one of the things people say is "Keep the faith" - how can I keep what I haven't had for quite some years!!
Preston are in-form Sunderland are anything but Another humiliating home defeat, and I bet some daft twat gets sent off to give them the advantage
I thought last week was last chance . I’ll push that to this week - but only if we can win - and all the others lose .
RTB, Isn't it only a one match ban for handling outside the area? I could be wrong. I can't see beyond a Preston win here - were sliding out of this league with a whimper. I hope that he gives the two kids a go up top and we never see Fletcher in a Sunderland shirt again, no matter how desperate we are. I'm always happy to be proved wrong.
Kaz and Paddy could be back: Kazenga LuaLua and Paddy McNair in contention for Sunderland against Preston Chris Coleman provides team news ahead of Sunderland's clash with Preston at the Stadium of Light with a late decision to be made on John O'Shea COMMENTS By Craig Johns 10:34, 16 MAR 2018 SPORT please log in to view this image CLICK TO PLAY IS IT A FOUR HORSE RACE FOR RELEGATION? JAMES HUNTER ON SUNDERLAND'S CHANCES *:first-child","hideOnSensitiveArticle":true,"relativePos":"before","name":"taboolaXByline","selector":"taboola-x-byline","targetType":"mix","placement":"byline text links","type":"taboolaxBelowByline"}" data-taboola-placeholder="" data-response-start="1130.200000014156" data-type="taboola" data-response-end="3746.3000000134343" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: top; clear: none; text-align: center; width: 749px;"> Get Sunderland AFC updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Paddy McNair and Kazenga LuaLua are in contention to play for Sunderland against Preston this weekend, while boss Chris Coleman is also hoping John O’Shea comes through training on Friday to be fit to start. The Black Cats have nine games remaining to save their Championship status by eliminating the five-point gap between themselves and safety. p:nth-of-type(2)","sizes":[[8,8]],"hideOnSensitiveArticle":true,"relativePos":"after","additionalClass":"in-article","name":"div-gpt-ad-vip-slot","type":"VIP"}" data-response-start="1129.800000009709" data-type="gpt" data-requested="2440.8000000112224" data-google-query-id="CJjOy5Lc8NkCFcsB0wodwiIGjA" data-timer-slot-rendered="4589.1000000119675" data-rendered-width="8" data-rendered-height="8" data-response-end="5441.600000005565" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; overflow: hidden; z-index: 1; height: 8px; max-height: 8px;"> John O’Shea played battled through injury at QPR last weekend and as a result has not trained at all this week - but will be assessed as he joins his team-mates at the Academy of Light on Friday. please log in to view this image Paddy McNair of Sunderland (Image: Sunderland AFC) Sunderland's fightback will not go anywhere without the support of their fans Preston are the visitors to the Stadium of Light this weekend, with Coleman also now able to call upon Chelsea loanee Jake Clarke-Salter again as he returns from a three-match suspension. On team news, Coleman said at his pre-match press conference: “John O’Shea hasn’t trained all week but he is going to train today. “Marc Wilson has trained this week but it will be too early for him this time around. “Darren Gibson has also had a few sessions but I think it will be two or three weeks before we start thinking about him having any kind of game time. please log in to view this image Kazenga LuaLua (Image: Sunderland AFC) Revealed: The shocking stat which shows just why Sunderland are facing a second relegation “Kazenga LuaLua has trained twice this week and looked sharp and Paddy McNair has had one proper session so could be in contention tomorrow. We’ll see how he gets through today. Providing there’s no reaction, which there shouldn’t be, he’ll be in the squad.” With so few games and so little time to save Sunderland’s season Coleman knows that nothing but victories are good enough now. As such, he appreciates that he may have to risk some of his star men who are struggling - even if he wouldn’t in less demanding circumstances.
That statistic showing us as having the least wins of all clubs over 10 years doesn’t shine much hope of getting enough (even a couple) from only 9 games
I wouldn't bother with McNair he'll just limp off injured after 20 mins, waste of a sub. I'd be inclined to rest him for next season until he's got a genuine chance of getting a run of games. It's not like he's much good anyway, we have other options.
I’d forgotten that half of these crocked players existed There is no point rushing any of them coz you just know that they’ll be out for at least another two months with groin/knee/ankle knack..
A solicitor that we instruct is a season ticket holder at Rochdale. He's a good lad and I thought that we could do the home and away matches next season and have a bit of a piss up to soften the blow of relegation. I checked the tables and they are second bottom. I can't even look forward to that next season. Bloody typical. Great thread again BTW.
