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Sunderland travel to Blackburn in the Championship.
Last time out Sunderland beat Wigan and Blackburn beat Middlesbrough.
The Black Cats claimed 3 valuable points coming back from a goal down to win 2-1 with goals from Elliot Embleton and Dennis Cirkin. Tony Mowbray could make a few tweaks to his starting eleven as captain Cory Evans is available to face his former club after his one game ban. Deputy captain Lyndon Gooch picked up a foot injury and could miss his first game of the season.
Blackburn had a good away victory at Middlesbrough to move up to 5th in the table, they went 2-0 up in the first half thanks to Sam Gallagher with two well taken goals and should have been further ahead.
Rovers held on despite Boro making a strong comeback in the second half with Duncan Watmore pulling a goal back but Kaminski made some fine saves.
Tony Mowbray:
"I think the lad stood on his foot, really, I think he's been trampled on, and he (Gooch) was really sore and bruised, and it twisted as well a little bit.
"He tried to carry on but at half-time he was in a lot of discomfort so we brought him off. Whether he can recover in two or three days [in time to play at Blackburn], we'll have to wait and see."
"Abdoullah was rotated out. I have a lot of empathy with the group. Leon Dajaku was left out the other week, [Edouard] Michut was left out the other week, yesterday we left Ba out. They all have an opportunity tomorrow to come and knock on my door - we're training today."
"I'm trying to integrate a lot of players to make them feel part of what we're doing. They're new, and they just have to work hard.
"They have to keep their heads down and show, when their opportunities come, that they can be a part of this group - and I would say that this group is quite tight, if you think of the ones who have been part of the League One campaign, and been to the Gillinghams and the Fleetwoods and grind out results at those grounds. It's difficult for outsiders to show that they have the same qualities to help this team move forward and those young lads have to know that it isn't as easy as just having loads of talent and being the best player."
Jon Dahl Tomasson:
“I think it was a brilliant performance to get the three points against a big club in Middlesbrough away from home. Our play on the ball was extremely good in the first half and we scored two good goals through Sam. One was better than the other, the first was a tap in and as for the second, what a strike!
“Every time we went forward we created chances and we should really have killed the game. The ‘keeper of Boro did well, he made big saves and stopped it from being 4-0. They got the goal just before half time and it is never the best time to concede a goal.
“We showed character in the second half and showed maturity with a really young team," he added, with three teenagers named in the starting XI. We defended the box, we defended the crosses and defended the points with our lives. Thomas made some great saves and our fans really helped the team as well.”
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Match Appointments:
Referee: CRAIG PAWSON
Assistant Referees: Marc Perry and Scott Ledger
Fourth Official: Matthew Donohue
Team Lineups:
Sunderland AFC: (4-3-3) Patterson, Cirkin, Alese, Batth, O’Nien, Neil, Evans, Embleton, Pritchard, Clarke, Roberts.
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Subs: Bass, Hume, Wright, Matete, Michut, BA, Bennette.
Injured: Huggins, Ballard, Stewart
Blackburn (4-3-3)Kaminski, Phillips, Hyam, Scott Wharton, Morton, Travis, Pickering, Brittain, Wharton, Gallagher, Brereton
Subs: Pears, Garrett, Carter, Dolan, Hedges, Szmodics, Dack.
Injured: tbc
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Betting Odds:
Sunderland 9/4 Blackburn 5/4 Draw 9/4
Prutton Predicts: meh
My two pence:
A great result and a good team performance against Wigan showed that this team just don’t give up, Patrick Roberts ran them ragged but the return of Dennis Cirkin made the difference in the end, providing the assist and scoring the winner.
I wasn’t impressed by Blackburn when they lost at Wigan last week, however they are more of a footballing side than Wigan and they have some good strikers in Gallagher and Brereton-Diaz.
I’m going for a 2-1 away win.
Live Stream:
Live on Sky Sports Football from 19:30
Ha’way the Lads
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RTB