Sunderland travel to Ewood Park to face Blackburn Rovers in the Championship. Last time out Sunderland beat QPR and Blackburn beat Middlesbrough. Sunderland came back from a goal down to win 3-1 at Loftus Road with goals from Clarke, Ballard and Ba. Dennis Cirkin is unlikely to feature for 3 to 4 weeks as he has a hamstring injury. Pierre Ekwah is suffering with a dead leg and Bradley Dack has tweaked his hamstring. Rusyn's visa has not come through yet. Mason Burstow and Adil Aouchiche both made their debuts and will both be pushing to start. Jon Dahl Tomasson hopes he’ll have both Sam Gallagher and Lewis Travis available for Wednesday night’s clash against Sunderland but admits only time will tell on the pair. The senior duo were replaced midway through the second half of the 2-1 win over Middlesbrough at Ewood Park. Sam Szmodics scored in each half to take his tally to four for the campaign, but Rovers should have scored more goals in the game. Rovers Arnor Sigurdsson the Iceland international has yet to feature since making his summer move to Ewood and maybe given more time to recover from a groin injury. Tony Mowbray: "It's disappointing to lose a goal, but I always felt we'd started really well and were controlling the game. "The sending off not too long after that was obviously a help to us - to play against 10 men the way we play on such a hot day was a real problem for them and we managed to capitalise on it. "I thought it was important to score before half time, but they do sit a lot of men behind the ball and leave Armstrong up the top who's strong and powerful, but it was how we broke down the deep block whether nine men or 10 men were behind the ball." Jon Dahl Tomasson: “It was great to win on our 5,000th league match and the way we won the game, I’m happy with it. The only thing I’m not happy with is that we didn’t convert all those chances into goals, which was a bit frustrating. “The momentum can change a bit, but we won the game, it was well deserved and it was great to see so many young players getting minutes. It’s been a good day and we’re proud.” “It’s still early days, but we know Sam [Gallagher] has a bit of a history with injuries. I hope he came off on time but we don’t know the extent of it yet. “Then you have Trav [Travis], a warrior who made that important tackle in getting that injury. “I hope he’ll be ready for the next game, but I haven’t seen that report on him yet. They are two important players for us. Match Appointments: Referee: JOHN BUSBY Assistant Referees: Richard Wild & Alex James Fourth Official: Martin Woods Team Lineups: Sunderland AFC: (4-2-3-1) Patterson, Huggins, Ballard, O’Nien, Hume, Neil, Jobe, Clarke, Pritchard, Ba, Burstow. Subs: Bishop, Triantis, Seelt, Roberts, Auchiche, Taylor, Rigg, Bennette, Hemir. Injured: Evans, Alese, Matete, Mayenda, Cirkin, Dack, Ekwah, Pembele. Not available: Rusyn. Blackburn (4-2-3-1) Pears, Brittain, Carter, Hyam, Pickering, Rankin-Costello, Adam Wharton, Hedges, Szmodics, Dolan, Telalovic Subs: Wahlstedt, S. Wharton, Markanday, Garrett, Hill, Leonard, Moran Injured: Gallagher, Travis, Ennis, Sigurdsson Betting Odds: Sunderland 2/1 Blackburn 5/4 Draw 5/2 Prutton Predicts: meh My two pence: Good to see a few lads from here at QPR Another away game with hopefully the same outcome as the last one. We lost this fixture last season mainly due to an awful refereeing decision, a blatant penalty not given and then they break and score. At least they don’t have Bereton-Diaz now. This will be a different challenge from the last game but one that I think we will rise to. I’m going for a 2-1 away win. Live Stream: This game will be available to fans on SAFClive https://safc.com/news/team-news/live-video Also available via the red button on Sky Sports Football Ha’way the Lads
Looking forward to this. Think Pritch might start, maybe Rusyn on the bench? Hopefully Ekwah fit to play
Recent fixtures against these have all ended with the home team winning. Time for a change in Wednesday and if we bring our A game then we should keep our momentum going with another 3 points.HTL
Pritchard deserves to start even though I've said in the past he's got a bigger impact coming off the bench. He'd be the only change from the starting 11 from Saturday. Bench will be interesting once again.
Great day out at QPR meeting up for a few pints and three points. I never worry about injuries any more ... ... it's fascinating watching how we cope these days. Whoever plays Blackburn are in for a tough game, hopefully Pritchard gets a fully deserved start, what skill at QPR. I'll say 3-0 just because it's possible. Haway the Lads!!!
Anybody know if this game will be available on Sky red button? How can you find out if it will be on?
The club have put Mowbray in a very difficult position. How does he include Pritchard, Dack, Auchiche, Roberts, Ekwah, Burstow, etc, on Wednesday and who is left out ... ... personally I was amazed at Auchiche and wouldn't hesitate to start him at Blackburn. This is all absolutely crazy
Patto Hume Ballard Onien Huggins Neil Jobe Ba Pritch Clarke Burstow Ekwah plays if fit for Jobe. But that's my guess.
I have a feeling he might go quite attacking on wed Patto Hume ballard o9 Ba neil jobe/ekwah clarke Roberts pritch Burstow Subs Bishop Seelt Huggins Jobe/ekwah/triantis Adil Rusyn Hemir Rigg Jewi
Is it too early to be thinking about giving Clarke a rest? Does he need one? Does Adil need more time to bed in? Is Jewi ready to start a game? I don't know the answer to these questions but don't want to see the lad broken, difficult to leave out like! What do you think?
If I was going to rest Clarke it would be for a home game where trickery rather than direct pace is more important to unlock a defence. Clarke is so valuable in away games, especially one where the other side “go for it”, which I think Blackburn will. As he is able to exploit the space they leave.
Personally I’d go for the same team as Saturday but with Pritchard starting ahead of Jobe or Ekwah depending on Ekwahs injury.
Difficult but if Ekwah is fit then I would have the same starting 11. Then if Dack is fit and Rusyn available then it leaves the problem of picking 9 from: Bishop Triantis Seelt Aouchiche Rigg Bennette Dack Pritchard Roberts Hemir Rusyn This is before Cirkin, Alese, Mayenda, Evans, Matete are fit (hopefully I haven't missed anyone). Fantastic isn't it
No idea how we will line up or what formation we will play, wouldn't mind seeing Pritchard and Dack behind Burstow with 3 at the back, Clarke and Ba as wingbacks, Neil and Jobe in midfield. ......................Patto ...........Hume.......Ballard........09 Ba.............Neil.....Jobe.................Clarke ...........Pritchard.........Dack ....................Burstow Would give us both very clever 10's to either push on or drop into midfield to help out. Team is probably way out but I got a feeling we will sneak this 1-2. Jobe header from a Ba cross and Burstow off the mark with a powerful shot in the bottom corner from 12 yards after a mazy run by Clarke
No way I'd drop jobe for Pritchard mind, I'd have jobe and Pritchard. But jobe as the Ekwah replacement, no 8. Pritchard no 10.
Wouldn't risk Ekwah when we don't have too. We've plenty of numbers capable in midfield, give Pierre as much time as he needs to recover. Rather he miss this one than risk something that could end up being long term.
