Sunderland host Shrewsbury Town in League One Last time out Sunderland beat Bradford and Shrewsbury lost at Accrington. The Black Cats host Shrewsbury at the Stadium of Light. Charlie Wyke could be available and Tom Flannagan could also make his return from injury. Glen Loovens is out for 2-3 weeks after tweaking his hamstring. Shrewsbury, under new manager Sam Ricketts, are turning things around after a poor start. Jack Ross: “Charlie is going to be in the squad, which is brilliant, and he played 90 minutes of a bounce game on Friday and did really well. He is desperate to get back involved, and I think at the back of his mind he wanted to travel to Portsmouth at the weekend." "But he will be back in the squad on Wednesday and, all being well, that is him back now – although we will have to try and ease him in to an extent. Charlie is an out-and-out centre-forward, he gives us a physicality that no other player gives us, and he is proven in this league." "I'm loathe to say that he gives us an out-ball because he is a better player than that, but he does give us something extra. He looks fitter now than when he came back earlier in the season because we have been more patient this time round." "He is a good character and I think he feels slightly guilty at coming here and not contributing so far, so he is determined to put that right." Sam Ricketts: "I thought we were very poor in an awful lot of departments and the basics I demand from my team, summed up from conceding after 30 seconds. "I spoke many times that we need to keeps clean sheets or concede zeros and ones to give you a chance. "You can't come away from home now, twice and be behind in three minutes in both games. "I wouldn't mind if they were amazing goals, they're not. It's really poor from our point of view." Match Appointments: Referee: SCOTT OLDHAM Assistant Referees: Stephen Wade and Geoffrey Liddle Fourth Official: Matthew Dicicco Team Line ups Sunderland: McLaughlin, Matthews, Flanagan, Baldwin, James, Cattermole, Honeyman (c), Power, Gooch, McGeady, Maja Subs: Ruiter, Ozturk, Oviedo, O’Nien, Maguire, Watmore, Wyke Injured: Love, Hume, Robson, Loovens Shrewsbury Town: Arnold, Haynes, Sadler, Docherty, Okenabirhie, Bolton, Amadi-Holloway, Waterfall, Laurent, Norburn, Grant. Subs: Coleman, Emmanuel, Angol, John-Lewis, Gilliead, Colkett, Sears. Betting Odds: H 5/6 A 9/2 D 14/5 My two pence: Two home games in quick succession so 2 wins and 6 points would make the league table look a whole lot better. Still a few logistics to sort out, but in between seeing family & friends I might just manage to get to this game. My guess is a 2-0 home win. Ha’way the Lads
RTB, iirc a red card penalty is only a one game ban. However Loovrans was injured making that non tackle tackle for the penalty and is out for three weeks anyway. If Flanagan doesn't return were getting stretched at the back and the management need to address this asap in January.
Cracking thread as per. Not very often I get a home game on my birthday so please give me a great start to the day Sunderland.[emoji482] Sent from my Moto G (5) using Tapatalk
Bri a happy birthday is (almost) garanteed. (So long as I don’t put a bet on us.) Lol Enjoy the day. KTF
Almost evens on SkyBet, crazy. I’m confident that Sunderland - 1 at 3/1 has paid for my NYE. 3-1 the Lads.
I expect at least 5-1. Sooner or later we are going to thrash a team. Why not these? An early goal, team n crowd fired up and just stick a few more in the onion bag. A Wyke hat trick.
We were looking at Bradford/Shrewsbury - 2 games in a few days, 6 pts. With Bradford out the way, could we dare now say Shrewsbury/Blackpool, 2 games - 6pts. ?
Leicester to win the title again ! man c were odds on about 3 weeks ago and Liverpool about 20-1 for the title.
What planet are you living on? At no point this season have Liverpool been 20/1! Can you imagine how much liability that would cause (I’d have stuck a ton on it straight away if they were!)