Sunderland welcome Norwich City to the Stadium of Light in the Championship. Last time out Sunderland beat Swansea won and Norwich lost to Burnley. Sunderland made two changes against Swansea. Mayenda started on the left in place of injured Tommy Watson and Dennis Cirkin started ahead of Aji Alese. Chris Mepham and Dan Ballard started in defence with Luke O’Nien on the bench. The Black Cats started badly going 2-0 down after 17 minutes but Dan Ballard pulled one back before the break. RLB made one change after 70 minutes bringing on Luke O’Nien to replace Dennis Cirkin. Dan Neil scored with a long range shot into the top corner to make it 2-2 then 2 minutes later Jobe Bellingham got on the end of a Chris Rigg cross to win the game 3-2. Poveda is back in training, with Seelt, Samed and Abdullahi getting closer to fitness. But Huggins, Mundle, Browne & Watson remain injured. Norwich lost 2-1 at home to Burnley, despite taking the lead against the Clarets after just 63 seconds. Zian Flemming levelled after the break and Josh Brownhill scored after a defensive mistake to take all 3 points. Angus Gunn has yet to face an EFL misconduct charge. The goalkeeper allegedly acted in an improper manner around the tunnel area at half-time of the fixture against QPR, and he has until Thursday, December 19, to respond. Regis le Bris: "It was a long week so I am happy to win. We started slowly with two goals conceded on set-plays but I thought during the first half that it was possible to be back in the game because we had good qualities on the pitch. "It was clear in my mind that we just needed to fix one or two problems, especially how they escaped our press with long balls down our left. "When we fixed that problem, I think we dominated the second half. We were probably a bit more aggressive with our finishing - we created chances and we scored. "It's good a win – it's good for character, good for confidence and good for the spirit of the team." Presser at 1pm on Thursday Johannes Hoff Thorup: "We switch off for a couple of moments and lose our eyes on the ball and the space we need to defend. "We gave them a way back into the game with that free-kick where they score from distance. Of course it's a fantastic strike, but we have a couple of players with their back to goal who are not ready at that particular moment. "That's not good enough against a top team in the league, because we know they need so few chances to score goals. "It's a tough one for the team that after a performance like that we end up with zero points." Form: Match Appointments Referee: LEIGH DOUGHTY Assistant Referees: Paul Hodskinson & Graham Kane Fourth Official: Elliot Bell Team Lineups: Sunderland AFC: (4-3-3) Patterson, Cirkin, Ballard, Mepham, Hume, Neil, Jobe, Rigg, Mayenda, Roberts, Isidor, Subs: Moore, Hjelde, O’Nien, Alese, Jones, Aleksic, Aouchiche, Rusyn, Connolly. Injured: Huggins, Browne, Mundle, Watson. Norwich City: (4-3-3) Gunn, Fisher, Duffy, Córdoba, Doyle, Slimane, Nunez, Marcondes, Schwartau, Sainz, Crnac. Subs: Long, Hanley, Hills, Stacey, Chrisene, Forson, Gordon, Hernandez, Barnes. Injured: Gibbs, Forsyth, Sargent Betting Odds: Sunderland 5/6 Norwich City 3/1 Draw 13/5 Prutton Predicts: 2-1 My two pence: A great win at Swansea, despite the poor start but we came back strongly and didn’t let them create anything in the second half. Norwich are a bit unpredictable at the moment but I agree with whoever said that the game plan should be to keep Sainz quiet. He is the top scorer in the Championship with 15 goals so far and is their main threat. I’m going for a 3-1 home win. Live Stream: https://www.safc.com/live (Available to overseas fans) Ha’way the Lads
Norwich are poor on the road and have some injury/suspension problems to deal with Anything less than 3 points would be really disappointing.
Norwich will be an awkward one to call for me as they always seem to turn up when we play them. However I also think that our previous game will have put a bit of belief back into the players and given them that little bit of confidence that seemed to be missing, so will go for a 3-1 score line with Jobe getting 2 and 1 for Isidor.
Callum Doyle has been playing LB for Norwich Good player but certainly not the quickest, I’d like to think he’s to be got at by Roberts
Weird team these looks like they score a lot but they got ten across two games which skews the figures slightly, sainz is the danger man so need to keep him quiet, would be disappointed if we didn’t take all 3 points though, lets enter Christmas on a high 2-0 Wilson and Huuuuuuuuuuuuume
It’s good that the players have had a week to recover, the celebrations after the third goal must’ve been exhausting And it’s good that we’re at home again, we seem to have had one gruelling away trip after another. Going two goals down has done us a favour imo. We know we have to start better but also that going behind doesn’t mean we’ve lost the game, a good lesson for players and supporters alike. The Norwich players, having watched our game, will have seeds of doubt and we need to capitalise on that. They know they have a problem if we have a free kick or corner, can’t stand off Neil if he's carrying the ball and to watch for Jobe making late runs into the box. Roberts and Mayenda have full backs they can’t get at although they’ll probably be quite cautious and play with a back five … … I'm expecting a win but would really like a game when the last five minutes doesn’t feel like running through a minefield. A goal from each forward would be the ideal for me … … Ha’way the Lads!!!
HA'WAAAAAAY THE LADS MACKEMS ATTACKEM Cracking win against Swansea. Hopefully keep the wins going. Blackburn are hot on our heels with a good win record recently. Hoping for a few slip ups from teams around us too. Great thread as always @RTB . If we do lose I'm not posting on it again though Cooooomon, gerrrin to the fooookers. HA'WAY THE LADS.
Can't wait for this after the excitement of last Saturday. We showed real grit and determination last Saturday, we start like that and no reason we can't be out if sight by half time. 3-0 Isidor, Rigg and Mayenda
Back in the goals last weekend and it's time to put someone to the sword. Keep Norwich quiet at our end of the pitch and their defence will offer us up chances which were overdue to take especially Wilson. Great thread again....HTL.
Brllliant MDT as always thanks @RTB My eldest lad is joining me and my youngest at this one for the first time since I moved back so looking forward to that. He’s also up for New Year and at the Sheff Utd game as well so it will be great watching the matches with both my lads without any of us having to do a 3.5 hour trip straight after the match. Brilliant result last weekend, hopefully another 3 points on Saturday. 3 - 1 to the lads. Wilson to end his drought.
He would be playing for me as well mate. As long as he’s OK that is. Bumped into him on Sunday and he said he was still under the weather. Hopefully he’s
Think we will win this one. Last Sat will have given the lads a boost and we are now 7 points from 9 and back on track. Some tough games ahead, so 3 pts here is important.
Thanks again RTB for this welcome thread, I think Reg will agree with you on the team selection , but if he is fit O/9 must start for me.. I watched Norwich against Burnley and as mentioned Sainz was their danger man, but as I saw it Doyle played mostly in the mid field area , and this is where most games are decided in this very tight league, therefore my game plan would be to have O/9 alongside Dan Neil in a 4/4//2 to start with ,. and bring Roberts and Adil on asp second half. to finish them off . OaU..
