Sunderland host Championship leaders Leicester City at the Stadium of Light Last time out Sunderland lost at Norwich and Leicester lost at home to QPR. The Black Cats remain in 10th place and are now 9 points off a play-off spot. Mike Dodds will welcome back Dan Ballard after his suspension. Corry Evans is back in training with Dack and Alese not far away from a return but not in time for this game. However, Clarke, Cirkin, Huggins, Roberts and Embleton remain on the injured list. Luke O’Nien and Trai Hume are both one booking away from a 2-match suspension. Ba is also close with eight bookings. Leicester remain top of the league despite their 2-1 defeat at home to QPR but are now only 3 points ahead of 2nd place Ipswich. The Foxes were 2-0 down to QPR after 57 minutes but were unable to avoid a third consecutive defeat. Ricardo Pereira was absent for just the second Championship match this season against QPR, and he looks unlikely to play again this month after hurting his hamstring. Jannik Vestergaard is out due to suspension but Jamie Vardy could start after recovering from injury. Mike Dodds: "If I'm being brutally honest, there's still a lot of things we need to be better with, but we've got some really good opposition coming up this week so we can't dwell on it too much. "The result is the most important thing, so we can spin positives and we can spin negatives, but when you lose a game in the manner we lost, it's a really tough one to take. "We got into some good areas of the pitch and worked our shape really well, but when we got into those areas I felt we looked a bit tense, a bit nervous, for whatever reason. "This is a Norwich team that are in a good spot, they've scored a lot of goals at home and I felt we completely nullified that, but it doesn't really matter as we lost the game." Enzo Maresca: "I am disappointed. It's a bad feeling, especially in this moment, but it is what it is. "We struggled to find a solution. At the end we shot many times and dominated the game, but we lost. It is three games in a row where we have had incredible effort and created chances but we are not able to score goals and in this sport that is the most important thing. "Today we created chances. Some of them were clear, some not, some were shots from outside the box. We are trying to do everything. It is incredible effort but we need to do more. "We have just 11 games to go. When you don't win and drop points and the rest behind you win then the mood is not a good one. Even when we win we always try to see what is not working well. "After three defeats we are concerned. But it is a matter of balance. If you worry too much it is not good and if you relax too much, it is not too good." “Ricardo (Pereira) is injured and he will be out until after the international break, Dennis is injured again. I was a midfielder. Probably on Tuesday (against Sunderland) I can play half an hour, 45 minutes, because in this moment we have just Harry Winks, Kiernan, and Yunus.” Form: Match Appointments: Referee: SUNNY SINGH GILL Assistant Referees: Andrew Fox & Richard Wild Fourth Official: Martin Woods Team Lineups: Sunderland AFC: (4-4-2) Patterson, Hume, O’Nien, Ballard, Hjelde, Ba, Rigg, Neil, Mundle, Rusyn, Hemir Subs: Bishop, Pembele, Aouchiche, Burstow, Jobe, Styles, Ekwah, Kelly, Lavery Injured: Huggins, Cirkin, Evans, Dack, Alese, Embleton, Roberts, Clarke Leicester (4-2-3-1) Hermansen, Choudhury, Nelson, Faes, Justin, Winks, Dewsbury-Hall, Fatawu, Akgün, Mavididi, Daka Subs: Coady, Doyle, Vardy, Albrighton, Souttar, Cannon, Marçal-Madivadua, Stolarczyk. Injured: Ndidi, McAteer, Praet, Pereira. Unavailable: Vestergaard Betting Odds: Sunderland 9/2 Leicester 7/4 Draw 15/4 Prutton Predicts: meh My two pence: After another away defeat we need a result from somewhere. Leicester have totally dominated their last few league games and have been unable to put their chances away. At this stage I’ll take 25% possession in exchange for a lucky win. I’m not very confident but I’m going for a 1-0 home win. Live Stream: Available on the Sky red button Also available here: https://safc.com/news/team-news/live-video Press conference for this fixture is probably Monday 1 - 1:30pm Ha’way the Lads
Hoping for a massive improvement in performance. We will need it just to get a point imo. Leicester are a top side and we need to be bang at it from min 1.
They have a few key men out but so did Swansea We need to put in a performance, I'm hoping that Rigg gets his chance but half expecting Jobe to be given the nod.
Need to stop the rot and get on the front foot. Get some changes made and try to catch Leicester on the hop. Think they have lost a couple of late
We should have played Rigg miles before his game. As much as I want him to start, this isn't the right match imo. Their midfield is outstanding. I'm as positive as they come about safc but I think we will get walloped unfortunately ........ But then again, my predictions are usually bollix
We've go loads to swap around, Rigg, Auchiche, Ruysin, Pembele etc etc. Unless the gaffer hast got the balls to change it.
Rusyn Mundle Aouchiche Ba Styles Neil Hjelde O'Nien Ballard Hume Patterson Have a go at them. No shame in losing to Leicester but at least put up a bit of an attacking fight.
Maresca jokingly said that he might have to find his boots - due to the injuries in the last few games.
They haven't got a pair of bollix between them. Is Proctor still wearing odd boots like he did at Monkwearmouth?
I just can’t see anything but an away win, I’ll be there as usual and will get behind the team and hope I’m completely wrong. However, god help us if we play like we have recently…
Great thread mate, shame the team aren't matching your effort but they're capable of beating anyone. We were unlucky down there and it's not as if we're being beaten 3 or 4 nil every week. We're fractions away and, as we showed against Leeds and West Brom teams can be beaten at the SOL. Let's hope some of our fans don't give up before we even kick off, the players won't.
Another great thread RTB. Even with my red and white tinted glasses on, I still don't feel confident enough to predict even a draw in this one. I think they'll smell blood and overrun us. I agree with a previous poster that this may not be the right game to throw Rigg in, but he needs a few starts before the end of the season. We probably still need another 6 points or so to guarantee safety, so need to get a few wins under our belts sooner rather than later. Would love to see one of those in this game, but fear it may have to be next weekend when we stop the rot.
He'll fanny about with the striker again. Swapping every game. If the midfield stay the same, again, I fear the worse. Saying that, the pressure is more on Leicester and Southampton these next games. HWTL
