Sunderland host Bolton in the SkyBet League One
Last time out Sunderland beat Wigan and Bolton lost to Rotherham.
Sunderland made eight changes for the tie with on-loan Everton man Nathan Broadhead scoring his first Sunderland goal in the first half and Luke O'Nien adding the second after the interval.
The Black Cats have won 5 competitive home games in a row while the Trotters have not lost on their last 4 visits to the Stadium of Light.
Impressive displays from Dajaku, Pritchard, Huggins and Broadhurst in the midweek cup victory against Wigan could give Lee Johnson a selection dilemma.
Tom Flanagan could return to the starting 11 after missing out due to suspension last weekend, whilst Corry Evans should also be back in the matchday squad.
Arby Xhemajli and Denver Hume are back in training, but are not close to a return yet.
Bolton have started the season well, with 12 points after 8 games and sit in tenth place in the League. Wanderers have announced that they will be cutting ties with all betting organisations and instead back charities providing support for people with gambling addictions.
Lee Johnson:
“We’ve seen in training what they all can do, and it's almost embarrassing that you can’t get them on the pitch at times, I wish that we could bring back five subs because you feel almost uncomfortable not being able to get them on the pitch when they're doing so well."
"The thing is, we can only get better, we haven't peaked, nowhere near. It'll probably take until game 15 or 20 because we recruited late.”
"What I think it has proven is that it is worth waiting for the quality, and of course that a good pre-season for the ones that were here, because they can carry the others at times."
"I’m really proud of those players tonight.”
Regarding Huggins injury:
“I’m hoping that it’s just cramp. I think it was because it seems to have eased off."
Ian Evatt:
“That’s the whole reason why we got promoted, to have games like this, and I don’t think we’ve got that kind of mentality. We’re going there as equals and we feel that we are equals.
“We have to have that mindset and mentality. Obviously we know that it’s a difficult place to go and a very big club with a great fanbase, but we’re exactly the same as that.
“I think you know me well enough now to know that we don’t go anywhere to draw, and we’ll give it our best shot. I think that it’s probably the best game we could have hoped for following last Saturday.”
“I think that it’s a game where we can go there and play with freedom, play with bravery, play with confidence and hopefully get the right result. There are no guarantees, but we’re not going there fearful whatsoever.”
“We’re still a work in progress, we’ve still got big players waiting to return from injury, and I’m relatively pleased with where we’re at. Obviously we’re not in the top six and that’s fundamentally where we want to be, but for now it’s about building confidence.
“We know that this month and the start of next is an extremely difficult period for us in terms of the fixtures that we’ve got, and if we’re there or thereabouts on the back of these fixtures, hopefully we’ve got some more promising ones to look forward to that’ll push us towards the top end of the league, but for now we’re focused on Sunderland on Saturday and go there with plenty of freedom and confidence and try and win.”
Match Appointments:
Referee: SAM PURKISS
Assistant Referees: Richard Wigglesworth and Wayne Grunnill
Fourth Official: Ivan Stankovic
Team Line ups
Sunderland: Hoffmann; Cirkin, Doyle, Flanagan, Winchester, O’Nien, Neil, Embleton, McGeady, Stewart, Gooch.
Subs: Burge, Alves, Huggins, Evans, Pritchard, Broadhead, Dajaku.
Injured: Xhemajli, Willis, Hume.
Bolton Wanderers:Dixon, Jones, Almeida Santos, Johnston, Gordon, Williams, Sheehan, Isgrove, Sarcevic, Afolayan, Doyle.
Subs:Gilks, Delfouneso, Aimson, Lee, Kachunga, Thomason, Baptiste.
Injured: Tutte, John, Brockbank, Bakajoko
Betting Odds:
Sunderland 3/4 Bolton 16/5 Draw 29/10
My two pence:
A good performance and a great result away to Wigan could lead to a few changes to the starting eleven. I’m not complaining about getting QPR away as it’s fairly close for me and could be another chance to see the lads live.
Bolton have started well and are playing some decent football, but then again so are we and we have lots of options from the bench.
I’m going for a 3-1 home win.
Live Stream (for overseas fans)
https://www.safc.com/news/team-news/live-video
Ha’way the Lads
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Last time out Sunderland beat Wigan and Bolton lost to Rotherham.
Sunderland made eight changes for the tie with on-loan Everton man Nathan Broadhead scoring his first Sunderland goal in the first half and Luke O'Nien adding the second after the interval.
The Black Cats have won 5 competitive home games in a row while the Trotters have not lost on their last 4 visits to the Stadium of Light.
Impressive displays from Dajaku, Pritchard, Huggins and Broadhurst in the midweek cup victory against Wigan could give Lee Johnson a selection dilemma.
Tom Flanagan could return to the starting 11 after missing out due to suspension last weekend, whilst Corry Evans should also be back in the matchday squad.
Arby Xhemajli and Denver Hume are back in training, but are not close to a return yet.
Bolton have started the season well, with 12 points after 8 games and sit in tenth place in the League. Wanderers have announced that they will be cutting ties with all betting organisations and instead back charities providing support for people with gambling addictions.
You must log in or register to see images
Lee Johnson:
“We’ve seen in training what they all can do, and it's almost embarrassing that you can’t get them on the pitch at times, I wish that we could bring back five subs because you feel almost uncomfortable not being able to get them on the pitch when they're doing so well."
"The thing is, we can only get better, we haven't peaked, nowhere near. It'll probably take until game 15 or 20 because we recruited late.”
"What I think it has proven is that it is worth waiting for the quality, and of course that a good pre-season for the ones that were here, because they can carry the others at times."
"I’m really proud of those players tonight.”
Regarding Huggins injury:
“I’m hoping that it’s just cramp. I think it was because it seems to have eased off."
Ian Evatt:
“That’s the whole reason why we got promoted, to have games like this, and I don’t think we’ve got that kind of mentality. We’re going there as equals and we feel that we are equals.
“We have to have that mindset and mentality. Obviously we know that it’s a difficult place to go and a very big club with a great fanbase, but we’re exactly the same as that.
“I think you know me well enough now to know that we don’t go anywhere to draw, and we’ll give it our best shot. I think that it’s probably the best game we could have hoped for following last Saturday.”
“I think that it’s a game where we can go there and play with freedom, play with bravery, play with confidence and hopefully get the right result. There are no guarantees, but we’re not going there fearful whatsoever.”
“We’re still a work in progress, we’ve still got big players waiting to return from injury, and I’m relatively pleased with where we’re at. Obviously we’re not in the top six and that’s fundamentally where we want to be, but for now it’s about building confidence.
“We know that this month and the start of next is an extremely difficult period for us in terms of the fixtures that we’ve got, and if we’re there or thereabouts on the back of these fixtures, hopefully we’ve got some more promising ones to look forward to that’ll push us towards the top end of the league, but for now we’re focused on Sunderland on Saturday and go there with plenty of freedom and confidence and try and win.”
Match Appointments:
Referee: SAM PURKISS
Assistant Referees: Richard Wigglesworth and Wayne Grunnill
Fourth Official: Ivan Stankovic
Team Line ups
Sunderland: Hoffmann; Cirkin, Doyle, Flanagan, Winchester, O’Nien, Neil, Embleton, McGeady, Stewart, Gooch.
You must log in or register to see images
Subs: Burge, Alves, Huggins, Evans, Pritchard, Broadhead, Dajaku.
Injured: Xhemajli, Willis, Hume.
Bolton Wanderers:Dixon, Jones, Almeida Santos, Johnston, Gordon, Williams, Sheehan, Isgrove, Sarcevic, Afolayan, Doyle.
Subs:Gilks, Delfouneso, Aimson, Lee, Kachunga, Thomason, Baptiste.
Injured: Tutte, John, Brockbank, Bakajoko
Betting Odds:
Sunderland 3/4 Bolton 16/5 Draw 29/10
My two pence:
A good performance and a great result away to Wigan could lead to a few changes to the starting eleven. I’m not complaining about getting QPR away as it’s fairly close for me and could be another chance to see the lads live.
Bolton have started well and are playing some decent football, but then again so are we and we have lots of options from the bench.
I’m going for a 3-1 home win.
Live Stream (for overseas fans)
https://www.safc.com/news/team-news/live-video
Ha’way the Lads
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