Sunderland welcome Portsmouth to the Stadium of Light in the Championship. Last time out Sunderland beat Sheffield United and Portsmouth beat Swansea at home. Sunderland made two changes to their starting eleven, with Alese starting in place of the injured Cirkin and Roberts starting ahead of Aleksic. The Black Cats had a good start with 2 chances for Isidor and Mayenda within the first 10 minutes but the Blades had a better opportunity to take the lead when they were awarded a penalty for a foul on Moore but Patterson saved Moore’s weak penalty kick. Mayenda capitalised on a defensive mistake to sprint past the defenders and slot the ball home past Cooper. Luke O’Nien headed past his own keeper as the Blades drew level but 3 minutes later, another mistake ended with a cross-field ball to Wilson Isidor who calmly beat the defender and placed his shot into the far corner. Samed is back in full contact training and could be in contention soon. Huggins, Mundle, Browne, Ballard, Watson, Rigg & Poveda remain on the injured list. Portsmouth climbed out of the Championship's bottom three thanks to a thumping victory over Swansea City. Josh Murphy's crisp first-time finish gave the hosts a 22th-minute lead, before Paddy Lane poked home the second seven minutes later. Swansea briefly threatened to mount a comeback after the break, with Josh Tymon going closest when he rattled the woodwork, but Ryley Towler's header eased any Portsmouth nerves and Cyrus Christie's error allowed Colby Bishop to wrap up a comprehensive win. While John Mousinho's team have struggled on the road this season, a sharp upturn in home form has breathed life into their bid to avoid an immediate return to League One. Regis le Bris: "It was a tough game. We played with a different style of play, with a compact block, because it was very important to control the way they play, especially through our lines. "We knew we had the quick players to run in behind and threaten the space behind the defence, and I think we did very well in that part of the game. "They pushed a lot and I think the spirit of the team was very good and very connected with the fans. We felt their energy in the stadium. "It was a tight game until the end and we conceded a goal in the last minute in the last games and today we showed we are able to protect our goal." Presser on Friday at 2pm: John Mousinho: "A brilliant win. Great to get a clean sheet, great to score four goals and the performance backed it up against what I think is a really, really good side. "Swansea can cause you all sorts of problems and sometimes you do have to ride your luck. At 2-0 we were a bit fortunate not to concede a goal, but at the same time we had plenty of chances in the first half. "Against Swansea, I think they are the best side in the league for possession, maybe apart from Leeds. They are fantastic the way they dominate the ball, the way they rotate. "But I thought we dealt with that really well. I think three of the four goals are from the way that we press, then we got the set-piece as well." Form: Match Appointments Referee: THOMAS BRAMALL Assistant Referees: Marc Perry & Mark Scholes Fourth Official: Oliver Langford Team Lineups: Sunderland AFC: (4-4-2) Patterson, Cirkin, O’Nien, Mepham, Hume, Neil, Jobe, Aouchiche, Roberts, Mayenda, Isidor. Subs: Moore, Hjelde, Alese, Jones, Johnson, Aleksic, Connolly, Rusyn, Ogunsuyi. Injured: Huggins, Seelt, Browne, Mundle, Ballard, Watson, Rigg, Poveda. Portsmouth: (4-2-3-1) Schmid, Swanson, Pack, Towler, Ogilvie, Dozzell, Potts, Murphy, Lang, Ritchie, Bishop Subs: Ani, Archer, Clout, Devlin, Lane, McIntyre, Moxon, Saydee, Silvera Injured: Poole, Yengi, O’Mahoney, Williams, Norris, Shaughnessy, Bowat Betting Odds: Sunderland 1/2 Portsmouth 21/4 Draw 16/5 Prutton Predicts: meh My two pence: A great result on NYD that takes us to within 2 points of an automatic promotion place. Portsmouth are poor away from home despite their last game and I fully expect us to win this one. The weather forecast is not great and again the travel plans don’t quite work for me to get back from this one. I’m going for a 3-0 home win. Live Stream: Live on Sky Sports+ https://www.safc.com/live (Available to overseas fans) Ha’way the Lads
This should be a regulation home win, albeit Portsmouth have scored some goals of late. Their away form is garbage though
If they play the way they did against Derby, we should be comfortable. But they seem like they are improving
Thanks for a great in-depth coverage of this match mate, I'm going to poke my neck out for this one, and have us win 4-0 with Ogunsuyi getting 2 as a second half sub Which will send the stadium into raptures. I had a sweat on for the Sheffield match and thoroughly enjoyed it, first class entertainment but not good on the old ticker.I am hoping for some class outstanding performances from the lads Haway me bonny lads
Can’t stand Pompey, I wonder how many they bring up here I’d bet it’s not many! Think we’ll win and I’d love a clean sheet. 2-0
Have to be on the attack immediately. These are really poor away from home and an early goal will kill any sort of pre game confidence. Has to be a win if we are to keep pace. Shame it's a Sunday but least I am going this time!
Same as our last game, keep it tight at the back, no easy gimmys Luke. They might well sit in so we have to find a way through but we've got clever players who must all be on a high from NYD. Worry a bit about having enough legs but Portsmouth have had the same amount of games. Home win, don't care who scores. Thanks RTB, HTL.
Despite their claims to be great supporters, they're not. A history of poor showings at Roker and the SOL ... ... they've only sold around 500 tickets and I can't see that increasing much. Horrible club.
got to be on the front foot from the off here, a game we need to be winning given the fixtures of those around us, great chance to get back into the autos
As a football supporter I totally agree, I’d like to see us tear into them and keep up the pressure for 90 minutes … … but I've come to appreciate how RLB approaches games and how he gauges his tactics. The Sheff Utd game plan was different to anything we’ve seen before and it worked. We had more clear cut chances and shots on goal but allowed them to play it around in midfield. Roker Park would’ve been going crazy with the way we stood off. It may be that he decides to put in a high press as their defenders are a bit L1 and don’t look comfortable playing the ball out. But I noticed a glint in Reggie’s eye when he was talking about how we created chances by tempting Sheff Utd out then dropping balls over their back line. You could almost see him thinking, ‘Why bother with playing all this football when we can just play kick and rush’
100% it will all be methodical, hopefully a methodical 8-0 twatting and their ugly fan base's busses all breakdown as they reach Durham
I'll take any win..at this stage after a busy Xmas period ..a win is a win. Their tails will be up after that game against Swansea..but so will ours after the Sheff Utd....Potential to improve our goal difference, but as I said a scrappy goal and 1-0 win will do me
Need an early goal. The longer we go without scoring the harder this gets no push overs Pompey but they seem to take one step forward for two back anything other than a home win will probably be disappointing 3-0
Well, another game under the lights where we may have an opportunity to hit the Top 2, and we’re all expecting yo put a lesser team to the sword. How many times do SAFC spurn these chances? To many to mention, and it boils my pi$$. Once again I’m expecting a fairly comfortable win, but it terrifies me that once again our team will let us down. So c’mon lads, give us a rousing 3-1 win. HAWAY Bart
I reckon they'll come up here and sit back hoping for a draw or to nick a goal from a set piece so we'll have our work cut out to break them down, an early goal will do nicely. Still think we'll have too much for them and I'll go 2-0 with Isidor getting another worldy
Great thread again @RTB I suspect they will come and sit deep as per @Essayyeffcee's comments. I think we will see different tactics throughout the game and as long as we keep it tight from set pieces we should have too much in the tank Ha'waaaaaaaay
