Last time out in the League, Sunderland drew with Hull City and Blackburn beat Norwich. Sunderland welcome Blackburn to the Stadium of Light in the Championship. Ross Stewart made up for lost time by scoring on his first game back from injury as the 10 men of Sunderland drew 1-1 at Hull City. Elliot Embleton suffered a fractured ankle and ligament damage after a red card challenge on Ryan Woods. Danny Batth was replaced by Dan Ballard early in the first half after suffering a calf injury. Alex Pritchard missed the Hull game due to a muscle strain. Tony Mowbray will have to shuffle his squad as he faces another former club. Blackburn Rovers beat the Black Cats on home soil earlier this season but were fortunate to not concede a penalty prior to a spectacular goal scored by Chilean international Ben Brereton-Diaz. Rovers made 11 changes to the team that beat Norwich in the league when they lost 4-1 to Nottingham Forest in the EFL Cup. Tony Mowbray: "I don't know how many games I've had here, but I know that for the vast majority of games we have had no strikers "How's the journey going? About as well as might have thought or hoped. How well would it have gone with a fully-fit Ross Stewart? Would Ross be in double figures for goals now and would he have given us a lot more points? "Maybe. Probably. But I don't know. What I do know is that we have found other ways to score goals and win matches along the way. I know Ellis is fit now, but he wasn't [able to start] for eight, nine, or ten games, and we had to try and find a way. "I think Stewart and Ballard could play 90 minutes now. Whether they could play three games in a week, I'm not sure." Jon Dahl Tomasen: “It was a big challenge to play against a Premier League club and we knew it would be a good opportunity to develop some of our young players. “It was about seeing who could cope, and make good decisions, but you could see Forest were a side who have spent a lot of money. “We were disappointed with the goals we gave away, but it’s been a good cup run. “These games are ones where we aim to develop youngsters and gain value over time. “It’s been a good opportunity to play against this team and you could see that you need a lot because they are a very good side," he added. “Look at the speed, the decision making and the quality on the ball. You could see that they were a couple of levels higher than us and we need to continue working hard every day to match that.” Form: Match Appointments: Referee: TIM ROBINSON Assistant Referees: Andrew Fox & Liam Cooper Fourth Official: Leigh Doughty Team Lineups: Sunderland AFC: (4-4-2) Patterson, Cirkin, Alese, Ballard, O’Nien, Neil, Evans, Roberts, Clarke, Omad, Stewart. Subs: Bass, Huggins, Gooch, BA, Michut, Bennette, Simms Injured: Embleton, Batth, Pritchard Blackburn (3-4-3): Kaminski, Ayala, Hyam, Pickering, Morton, Rankin-Costello, Buckley, Dack, Dolan, Brereton, Gallagher. Subs: Pears, Wharton, Mola, Garrett, Szmodics, Hedges, Travis Injured: tbc Betting Odds: Sunderland 13/10 Blackburn 11/5 Draw 9/4 Prutton Predicts: 1-2 My two pence: Blackburn are a decent team with good strikers, I'm hoping that we play well for the whole game and put on a show for the fans as we are expecting a big crowd, hopefully the traffic is not too bad and I make it to the SoL in time Blackburn have not drawn a game so far this season... I’m going for a 2-1 home win. Live Stream: https://www.safc.com/news/team-news/live-video (Overseas fans only) Live on Sky Sports Football. *** Happy Christmas Everyone *** Ha’way the Lads
RTB I am keen to see your side play... A home win and a goal from a free kick or a corner would be the icing on the plate.
Top thread as always, I'm going for a comfortable 2-0 Stewart & Clarke. Happy Christmas lads& lasses.
Tough game against a side who’ve already beat us this season. 44,000+ expected, let’s hope the lads can put in a performance.
This will be a tough game. They played 2 up top and Dack in behind away at Norwich and got a comfortable win (granted, Norwich were poor) I'll go for a 2-1 win, Rossco and Amad, Diaz for them. Haway the Lads
If you haven't already, I would listen to the What the Falk podcast previewing this game with a Blackburn fan, it's a good listen. I think we're due a good game and I would go with the team that RTB has chosen. I'll go for a 2-0 to us
Really hoping I can get over this last hurdle of illness and make a day of it. Love the a good boxing day footy slurp. Tough game but we are at home at over the Xmas period, it counts for alot. Against a good team in form. But hoping Stewart starts and he has the opportunity to make the difference.
Cracking thread as always @RTB. Big crowd and some interesting thoughts on formations and who should start. Hoping we start on the front foot and force them back, going to be a tough game but I'd take a 1-0 victory. A Clarke special into the top corner after a mazy run
This isn't going to be easy. Just when we get a fully fit squad we lose 3 players in one weekend, bonkers really. Just hope the lads turn up for a bumper crowd and we get the right result. HTL.
fek what my head says, i'm going with the heart 3-0 the lads, and another cracking thread well don RTB
Interesting that Xmas day is off bounds at the AOL. Canny trust in the players that. Hope it pays off on boxing day.
Going back a lot of years our keeper Sandie McLaughlin turned out against WBA on New Years Day and he was pissed, we lost 1-5, stuck in my mind that one.
Same here. Flattened with this cold/cough bug that seems to be doing the rounds Be interested to see what team he puts out - this continued benching of Cirkin is a curious one. Contrary to RTB's team I think we'll see Stewart and Simms up front with Ballard for Batth the only change at the back
6-2 to the cuddlies. I think TM will really go for this and we will play a high tempo pressing game and LND will rip them apart. I fully expect to Amad to carry on his scoring streak as well. And from a fans point of view lets scare the sh*t out of them and show the watching viewers what SAFC is about. Sing from the start. Wise men say BEFORE the match will get everybody worked up.
Cirkin comes in at LB, surely? I like Alese and think he’ll do well here but I don’t see any debate for who starts at left full back.
