Sunderland visit AFC Wimbledon in League One Last time out Sunderland beat Gillingham and Wimbledon lost to Walsall. Following the match at Gillingham the Black Cats stayed in London to prepare for the AFC Wimbledon game rather than travel the length of the country twice in quick succession, utilising Millwall’s training ground on Thursday and West Ham United’s academy base on Friday. McGeouch made his debut as a 70th minute substitute at Gillingham and, while he is likely to be involved again tomorrow, he may need more playing time before he is ready to start games. Oviedo has joined up with the squad, he and Matthews will both be in contention to start at the Kingsmeadow stadium. The Dons captain, Deji Oshilaja returned to training on Thursday and he's in line to return against Sunderland on Saturday. The centre-back is poised to be back in the squad and so too is right-back Tennai Watson, who also missed the defeat against Walsall. Jack Ross: "Adam picked a knock on Sunday and had to come off. He is progressing well and has travelled down with us and hopefully he will be available for Saturday." "Bryan got a knock towards the end of the game and he hasn’t recovered as well as we’d hoped so he hasn’t travelled at the moment, but there’s a chance that if he does a bit of training tomorrow, he might travel down Thursday evening." “There are no new injuries, thankfully - it will just be a case of checking on fatigue because tomorrow’s game will be our third in six days.” Neil Ardley: "We have faith in the squad and I felt it was a good team performance. We just got sucker-punched. They scored a great first goal and two poor goals and that was too much for us to get back into it. I knew it would be tough because Walsall had played well in all of their games so far. They've got a lot of threats with a big man and a quick one up front. We had to solve that. We had made sure the team were aware of all the threats that Walsall bring, but I thought in the first 15 minutes that we did not solve those problems. We could not get our game going due to that and found ourselves 1-0 down. That's probably the biggest thing that I could criticise the team for, not that I want to criticise them.” Form: Match facts: This will be the first ever meeting between AFC Wimbledon and Sunderland. Sunderland have lost on 10 of their last 13 league visits to London (W1 D2) - their only win coming against Crystal Palace in February 2017. AFC Wimbledon have not lost back to back home League One matches since December 2017, with the first of those defeats against Walsall - the Dons lost 3-1 to the Saddlers last time out. Sunderland have won three league matches in August 2018 - they haven't won four in a single calendar month since April 2007 when they were managed by Roy Keane. Sunderland, victorious away at Gillingham on Wednesday, haven't won consecutive away league matches since May 2014, when they beat Chelsea and Manchester United in the Premier League under Gus Poyet. Sports Analytics Machine: Meh Prutton predicts: Meh Match Appointments: Referee: JOHN BUSBY Assistants: Callum Walchester and Andrew Williams Fourth Official: Robert Hyde Team Line ups Sunderland: McLaughlin, Matthews, Baldwin, Loovens, Oviedo, Cattermole, Power, Honeyman, Gooch, Maja, Maguire. Substitutes: Ruiter, Ozturk, James, O’Nien, McGeouch, Love, Mumba. Injured: Watmore, Flanagan, Wyke, McGeady, Sinclair Taxi: NDong, Djilobodji, Kone AFC Wimbledon: King, Watson, Purrington, Oshilaja, Mcdonald, Pinnock, Wordsworth, Trotter, Barcham, Appiah, Pigott Substitutes: McDonnell, Hartigan, Garratt, Hansen, Soares, Wagstaff. Injured: tbc Betting Odds: H 13/5 A 6/5 D 5/2 My two pence: This is going to be a totally new experience for a lot of our 750 travelling supporters, the Kingsmeadow Stadium is a classic “garden shed” with an overall capacity of just over 4850, the smallest in League One. I think we rode our luck at times on Wednesday but hey I’m not complaining it was still a great performance and an excellent result. Having sent my scout to the Wimbledon game on Tuesday , I am confident that we can get the same result on Saturday. Overground, underground, wombling free - My guess is a 3-1 away win Ha’way the Lads
Match facts: This will be the first ever meeting between AFC Wimbledon and Sunderland. So not exactly a rivalry game, and why does wimbledon have a football club anyway?
I'm sure we'll win everything points to it. I don't see any reason why we can't just keep on going, the quality is there, the fitness is there and the attitude is there.
We were relegated at Wimbledon in our first ever season in the premier league. That football club relocated and are now named the MK Dons. Currently playing in league 2. The Wimbledon we are playing this weekend was founded by the old Wimbledon supporters after the original Wimbledon relocated. Understand that, Hefty?
Were on a mini roll and don't see why that can't continue. Got to respect the opposition but I think we'll just have too much for them. Think Ross will make changes and give Loovrans a rest but hope he doesn't swap him with Ozturk, would be nice to have Oviedo back as well. 2-0 to the lads. thanks RTB
Loovens gets a week off after tomorow I really hope he resists resting him until Flanagan is back. Ozturk is an accident waiting to happen like a Turkish Titus Bramble. I dont expect any changes from the team that started on Wed. Hopefully Mcgeouch will play a bigger part this time.
Unchanged for me, apart from the full backs, IF, they are fit get them back in, our current alternatives are worrying even at this level.
Like Clock said, I think we'll see a change with the full backs, but other than that, everyone else who played at Gillingham deserves to stay in the starting line up. It's tough on James who had a good game the other night, but Oviedo travelled down yesterday after recovering from a knock against Scunthorpe, so I can't see him making the journey down if he's not going to be involved.
Yes Oviedo has to play whenever he's fit. Its very rare a team in League 1 has a player at their disposal whos just represented his country in a World Cup. Im sure Ross knows you should never chop and change a centre back pairing when your on a winning run, it does more harm than good. Loovens looks a big strong lad, im sure he can manage another 90mins tomorow before putting his feet up for a few days.
Oviedo playing tomorrow could be a good pointer to him staying beyond this window. Maybe he's buying into Ross's project and willing to stay on until at least the next window, to see if we'll be seriously contending for an immediate automatic promotion.
Latest update: Jack Ross has revealed he will have Bryan Oviedo at his disposal for tomorrow’s trip to AFC Wimbledon. Speaking to safc.com, Ross offered an update on the South American’s fitness while also providing an update on Tom Flanagan and Charlie Wyke. “Bryan travelled down last night so he has trained this morning,” he said. “He looked fine but Adam (Matthews) is the most likely to miss out. He has travelled with us but is still struggling. “Other than that, we are fine. Bryan will obviously add to the squad and everyone who was involved the other night is fit and healthy which is good. “Back up at the academy, Tom and Charlie in particular are very close to joining in, in full training," he continued. "They have had a good week training while we’ve been away so it’s all encouraging for us.”
For anyone making the trip down tomorrow: AFC Wimbledon host League One promotion favourites Sunderland on Saturday and this match at the Cherry Red Records Stadium is sold out. Neal Ardley's men will be seeking a first home win this season after impressive performances on the road and it promises to be a cracking atmosphere tomorrow. Sunderland sold out of their away allocation weeks ago and all tickets for home areas have also been snapped up. Below is a summary of match arrangements for Saturday's game: Bars These will be open from 12 noon, offering you a chance to get here in time to watch the early Premier League match between Wolves and Man City (12.30 pm kick-off). The evening game is Liverpool v Brighton (5.30 pm kick-off) and that will also be shown on TV screens following the Wimbledon match. Sunderland supporters will be welcome in the bar areas before the game.
