Sunderland welcome newly promoted Ipswich Town to the Stadium of Light in the Championship. Last time out Sunderland lost at Hartlepool in a pre-season friendly and Ipswich drew with Luton. Sunderland had one defeat in the pre-season games and have added goal keeper Nathan Bishop to their squad this week. Isaac Lihadji has left the club. Tony Mowbray will be without Stewart, Evans, Embleton, Alese, Matete and new signing Mayenda. Ipswich won the Innsbruck cup during their pre-season tour and have made some decent signings to prepare for the up-coming season. Omari Hutchinson joined on a season-long loan from Chelsea. The 19-year-old will spend the campaign at Portman Road, becoming the Club’s fourth signing of the summer, following the arrivals of Jack Taylor, Cieran Slicker and George Hirst. Ipswich Town icon Tony Mowbray, who won promotion to the Premier League with the Blues back in 2000, says the return of his old club to the second tier is just one reason this season's Championship will be tougher than ever. Keiran McKenna is optimistic that he can welcome back three injured players into the group, with Cameron Humphreys due to be involved from Monday after suffering a concussion. Nathan Broadhead [quad] and Massimo Luongo [adductor] will be assessed in the coming days, while goal keeper Christian Walton is also a concern after injuring his foot. Supporters are encouraged to arrive early at the Stadium of Light on Sunday, with over 40,000 fans expected to attend the Club’s opening fixture versus Ipswich Town. Fans can enjoy 50% off all drinks, including alcoholic beverages and soft drinks, on the concourses until 16:30, excluding the away section of the stadium. Tony Mowbray:"The landscape has changed because the relegated Premier League teams can spend £10m or £8m on a player, and there have been some pretty big additions to their squads," "Leicester, Southampton, Leeds, are three pretty big, established, football clubs that will be a handful in this division so let's see how they adjust and adapt. "It seems this season the league is going to be tougher - even Ipswich Town coming up (from League One). "I was there for nine years as a player and coach, it's a big club with a big fanbase and they are very passionate having won the FA Cup in 1978 and the UEFA Cup in 1981. "It's a big, big club, and it will be a big test for us on the opening day. "Sheffield Wednesday also coming out of that league, then Plymouth as a bit of an unknown quantity. "The league looks tough but I am sure that other teams look at Sunderland and think 'that's a tough fixture' home and away." Kieran McKenna: “We want to be a big club so we’re obviously not going to be booking the open top bus parade for a pre-season competition but it’s nice to win and a nice moment for the lads and fans who were here. “The players will have learnt a lot. We organised games like this for the end of pre-season because we knew we would be stretched out of possession and in our organisation this year. “We have shown before that if we’re all-in in terms of commitment and if we are organised, run hard and are brave, then we can be a really difficult team to play against. “This is a confidence boost for the players and a reminder of that, in games like this against high level opposition, that if we are brave with the ball and run hard then we will be a difficult team to play against.” Victory in Innsbruck completes a busy pre-season, heading into the Championship opener at Sunderland a week on Sunday. “We got another 60 minutes into pretty much all of the players at the end of a busy fixture schedule, which means the players have had a lot of minutes,” “That should mean anyone who is required against Sunderland should be ready, so that’s a bonus. It’s about preparing the whole squad, rather than thinking too much about Sunderland just yet.” Match Appointments: Referee: SAM BARROTT Assistant Referees: Bhupinder Singh Gill and Ian Cooper Fourth Official: Robert Madley Team Lineups: Sunderland AFC: (4-2-3-1) Patterson, Cirkin, Ballard, O'Nien, Hume, Neil, Ekwah, Clarke, Jobe, Roberts, Hemir Subs: Bishop, Triantis, Batth, Rigg, Huggins, Pritchard, Ba, Bennette, Gooch Injured: Embleton, Stewart, Evans, Alese, Matete, Mayenda. Ipswich Town (3-1-4-2) Walton, Davis, Morsy, Woolfenden, Burns, Chaplin, Taylor, Burgess, Hirst, Broadhead, Donacien Subs: Baggott, Edmundson, Evans, Ladapo, Harness, Ball, Jackson, Huchinson, Leigh, Edwards. Injured: tbc Betting Odds: Sunderland 7/5 Ipswich 15/8 Draw 12/5 Prutton Predicts: 1-1 My two pence: After a decent pre-season I’m hoping that we continue playing well and manage to avoid any serious injuries. We’ve made some very promising signings and most of the young players will need time to adapt. Ipswich are no mugs and will no doubt cause us a few problems, especially if Broadhead is playing. I’ll be watching this one from South America, so it’s going to be a 12 O'clock kick off for me I’m going for a 2-1 home win. Live Stream: https://www.safc.com/news/team-news/live-video Live on Sky Sports Football Ha’way the Lads
Love that your threads are back mate Buzzing for sunday, very very tough game but looking forward to seeing how we do
Whoopee….. it’s RTB time again !! Thanks in advance for your threads . Looking forward to them and the season ahead . Hope we all enjoy both as much as last year
Cracking thread as always RTB. Great to see them back for the upcoming season. Thanks. Sadly this one has come to soon for me to attend so it will have to be the telly. A very difficult opening game against a usually good footballing side. A big crowd behind the lads and hopefully a winning start. Fingers crossed. Keep the faith lads and lasses.
RTB I am afraid nothing like as exotic as South America... But on holiday so Sky for me. Just been watching Southampton, they look very good against Sheff Wednesday. Although I expect some of their players eg Ward Prowse will be away If anything the league is going to be tougher than last year. After the shambles at 'Pool the side almost picks itself Hoping for a winning start.
They will bring a great crowd and give us a proper game. They will have a go at us and that will suit us, it’s 2-1 for me. They a club I’ve always had a bit of time for so hope they do well.
cheers again for the first of the new season RTB... 'first round' is always dodgy with teams knowing little about each other...just hoping we put a good performance in, sunday on sky is never a favourite of mine.
From what I've heard on various podcasts Ipswich have reinvented football and are going straight up to the Premier League this year. Oh well never mind, hope we don't get too battered. Any insight appreciated @Scout73 ...what's all the fuss about?
They are a good footballing side and mckenna is a very exciting manager. I dont quite get the hype yet but they should do well this season and are the most likely to do what we did last season
@Gordon Armstrong Gordon, you need to change this, you have added RTB's brilliant thread to my crap thread, instead of my crap thread to RTB's brilliant thread Easy mistake to make because all my other threads are brilliant
I've changed it, after making a right arse of it . . . . I've been out, but it's Montysoptician's fault Sorry, lads (and especially RTB)
