Mid table Norwich travel to in form Sunderland this weekend for another installment of the friendship trophy. Sunderland sit 4th with the opportunity to go up to second if results go their way and Norwich are down in 12th. Norwich are adjusting to life under a new owner and manager this year along with Kenny McLean's new tendency to be suspended for large quantities of the season. Unfortunately he is away again on Saturday, but hopefully Norwich will find a way to adapt. Fortunately Gunn's hearing is next week so he is free to play. Both teams have scored well this season, Norwich mostly relying on Sainz, Sunderland's goals are more spread around. However the main difference is the superior defence of Sunderland, will this be the difference in this match? Current Form Sunderland DLWDW Norwich WWLDL
Squad update **UPDATE** Sorensen - BACK - JHT said the injury that kept him out of last weekends game wasn’t as bad as first thought and he has returned to training this week. McLean - OUT - FA charge following the QPR game sees him banned for 4 matches. This is game 3/4 Forsyth – OUT - knee - 1-2 more weeks out, pictured back on grass Sargent - OUT - Had surgery – 3 more weeks out, pictured back on grass Gibbs - OUT - 8 weeks with a reoccurrence of the hamstring issue that took him out from the start of the season
Friendship Trophy is awarded to the team with the winning aggregate score in competitive matches over the season between the two sides. The trophy was most recently contested in March 2024, when the teams played at Carrow Road in the EFL Championship. Norwich won 1–0 in that match,though Sunderland won 3–2 on aggregate due to their 3–1 victory at the Stadium of Light in October 2023.
Just a heads up for any fans travelling by train via Newcastle for tomorrow’s game. The Metro heading towards Sunderland is not running for part of the way. This is due to a road viaduct , which runs directly over the Metro tunnel been declared unsafe and in danger of collapse. It is going to be better to use the train from Newcastle to Sunderland and walk from the city centre to the ground. This has an only happened this week but might take a couple of years to resolve. Hopefully when they pull down the old viaduct the Metro can run normally.
Hernandez to start on the right or up front do we think? The graphic suggest in the right but he could feasibly be up front with Crnac in the right tucking inside allowing Stacey to bomb up and down the wing
Sainz needs to start releasing the ball earlier. Sunderland giving him after while he’s in the floor, and pushing him off the ball. We welcome some retrospective Sunderland bans from the FA
Sainz getting picked out by Sunderland. He is certainly a marked player. Needs to be careful, he might get a red
