Saturday 10th December 3pm, Swansea City host Sunderland at the Liberty Stadium. Last time out Sunderland won 2-1 against the Premier League Champions while Swansea City lost 5-0 away at Tottenham Hotspur. Last season Sunderland won this fixture 4-2 thanks to a Jermain Defoe hat-trick and a lot of help from the referee. David Moyes has a big decision to make on who replaces the industrious Duncan Watmore. Swansea are leaking goals, conceding 9 in 2 games but they did score 5 to come back and win against Crystal Palace. Sunderland’s confidence will be sky high and an attacking formation should ensure that they get a result but Moyes will know that the Black Cats cannot take any game for granted. Moyes: “The key is to win the game tomorrow. We want to build on what we've done in recent weeks. We have a lot of belief right now.” “I think Victor Anichebe coming in has exceeded many expectations, but I always believed he had a lot more to offer. Jermain Defoe is also in a real purple patch. He's fit, he's sharp and I hope he keeps scoring goals." Bob Bradley is the first American to manage a team in the Premier League but he is now the bookies favourite to be the next PL manager to be sacked. The Swans are rock bottom after winning 1 match from 7 and conceding 19 goals since Bradley took charge in October. Bradley: "We will be ready against Sunderland, which will be the start of an important run of games that are going to spell out what's happening, we know it's all to play for in the next five or six matches between now and the start of the new year." Match Appointments: Referee: Craig Pawson Assistants: S Ledger, D Bryan Fourth official: G Scott Form: Sunderland: L-L-W-W-L-W Swansea City: D-L-L-D-W-L Head to Head Won 13 Lost 8 Draw 11 The Black Cats are looking for another away win to make it 4 wins out of the last five Premier League games. Lawro’s prediction: 1-1 (Robbie Williams 3-2) Merson's prediction: 2-2 Team Selection: Swansea City Swansea have most of their squad fit including the talented Leroy Fer, Gylfi Sigurdsson and £15M signing Borja Baston from Athletico Madrid. Ki Sung-Yeung and Federico Fernandez are both out with a broken toe. Sunderland Sunderland need to make changes with Januzaj, Khazri or Larsson to replace the injured Duncan Watmore. Steven Pienaar and Jason Denayer are expected to retain their places after recovering from concussion and sickness. The good news is that Fabio Borini is back in training and getting near to a return. Jack Rodwell remains sidelined with a hamstring injury. Lee Cattermole is unavailable for 4 months. Lynden Gooch is out for 3 months with ankle ligament damage. Paddy McNair & Duncan Watmore will miss the rest of the season with anterior cruciate ligament injuries. Key Men Swansea City Fernando Llorente please log in to view this image Llorente has struggled for form and despite standing at 6 ‘5 he has not really got to grips with the physical demands of the Premier League. He has undoubted quality and he showed that with a stunning finish against Manchester City before a double in that 5-4 win over Crystal Palace. He won the World Cup with Spain and during his time with Juventus he won three Serie A titles, so the Spaniard is no stranger to success and his winning mentality will be vitally important to Bob Bradley’s side. Sunderland Jermain Defoe please log in to view this image Jermain has now reached 250 career goals and Saturday's game is perfect for him to increase his premier league total, having scored 3 times at Swansea last season he will be looking forward to playing the team with the league’s worst defensive record. Betting Swansea City 11/10 Sunderland 12/5 Draw 12/5 My view... This is another tough game, with Swansea desperate for a win, there’s already lots of pressure on Bob Bradley so I’m hoping we can take full advantage with an early goal and come away with all 3 points. I’m going for a 0-2 win for us and hope that we manage to scape our way out of the bottom 3. For anyone going to the game, don’t forget on the 5th minute, “There’s only 1 Bradley Lowery” #OneBradleyLowery Ha’way the lads.
Nailed on win for Sunderland. Sell the pig and pile on, and double up with their Manager getting sacked
I think the key this weekend is not to lose, keep picking points up and stay off the bottom. Id love a win but really feel this is a pivotal game that we cant lose or momentum will be lost.
Agreed. I reckon Moyes will set us up to not get beat and see how the first half hour goes. If our defence play as they have been for the last few games then a point is nailed on, but if we go for it then i reckon Defoe and Anichibe can cause some damage.
Great thread RTB. Always happy with a point away from home and would be delighted with a win, obviously. We have some great momentum against their struggling form so will hazard a 2-0 to us. I think we'll see Seb in for Duncan - looks like Fabio isn't quite ready yet and I don't think Moyse fancies Khazri at all. Other than that, unchanged - echo reporting Pienaar has recovered from the clash of heads last week.
Yeah - I have not read the Echo yet, I just looked at physioroom and they can be slow to update with the latest news. I hope Moyes gives Khazri a chance to prove that there is a decent player in there - somewhere.
Watmore`s going to be a miss no doubt about it. He might not be the final product yet but that bugger takes some watching. Can`t see other than Seb if he`s fully fit tbh. Moyes doesn`t seem to want Khazri at all though personally I think he`s got plenty to offer. Cracking thread btw.
I think you are right about Seb, Davie gave him lots of praise the other day. Just helping you mods out - it's a tough job and it's been a strange week. Keep up the great work
If you look at the stats for Seb (not this season obviously) he's up there with the best of them for passing accuracy, yards covered, tackles made, etc, etc. For me he's the natural replacement for young Dunc, not as fast but more skilful and can deliver a final ball, something Defoe hasn't had a lot of so far this season.
If the Khazri that played the end of the season would turn up I'd agree. For me he hasn't done enough when he's had the chance this season - looks unfit and somewhat complacent when he looses the ball. Think DM will try to shift him in the window unfortunately.
