Sunderland welcome Preston North End to the Stadium of Light in the Championship. Last time out Sunderland beat Cardiff and Preston lost at Sheffield United. Eliezer Mayenda scored again as Sunderland beat Cardiff 2-1. The Black Cats started well, scoring within the first 2 minutes and should have extended that lead in the first half. Cardiff levelled with a controversial goal but Chris Mepham stepped up with his first Sunderland goal to win the game. The Wearsiders are 8 points behind Leeds and Sheffield United, who occupy the automatic promotion spots. Patrick Roberts is a doubt after going off after 25 minutes. Huggins, Alese, Danns, Ballard, Le Fee, Samed, Poveda & Abdullahi are all injured. Jewison Bennette has now left to join FC LNZ Cherkasy for an undisclosed fee. Preston, managed by former Blades boss Paul Heckingbottom, lost to a Tyrese Campbell goal. Sam Greenwood stuck the woodwork and the Lilywhites defended tenaciously making it difficult for the home side to break them down. North End finished strongly but were unable to carve out an equaliser. Jayden Meghoma and Milutin Osmajic were both absent from the squad against Sheffield United but have a chance of featuring. Ledson could replace Potts in midfield. Regis le Bris: "We scored early which is always a good idea and for 20 minutes we were very good, the way I want us to play. "At half-time I was disappointed. The question of consistency is key. If we could have maintained that level we would have scored two or three more goals because we were really dominant. "We allowed our opponent to find solutions and confidence and they scored and it was deserved at that part of the game. "In the last stage of the game we were better. It was more a reaction than massive control. We found a solution and that is a positive for us." Press conference: Paul Heckingbottom: "I've been involved in enough games at Bramall Lane to know that to come here you've got to play well and take your moments, then you've got to have the big decisions go your way. We didn't take our moments and we didn't have the big decisions. "First half-hour they caused us a lot of problems, probably more than most have this season, with their front four – but after that we got to grips with it. "Because of the problems they were causing us, we were on the back foot and much more apprehensive than we normally are as a team. We went into our shell a little bit. "We restricted them to very little in the second half but then that one moment, that one lapse, they score. Even though we had moments we struggled to get the goal, which the effort probably deserved." Form: Match Appointments Referee: LEWIS SMITH Assistant referees: James Wilson & Richard Woodward Fourth official: Ben Toner Team Lineups: Sunderland AFC: (4-2-3-1) Patterson, Hjelde, O’Nien, Mepham, Hume, Neil, Jobe, Browne, Mundle, Roberts, Mayenda. Subs: Moore, Cirkin, Johnson, Seelt, Rigg, Jones, Aleksic, Isidor, Watson. Injured: Huggins, Alese, Danns, Ballard, Le Fee, Poveda, Samed, Abdullahi Preston North End: (3-4-1-2) Woodman, Kesler-Hey, Porteous, Lindsay, Gibson, Brady, Potts, Thordarson, Greenwood, Riis, Keane. Subs: Whiteman, Bauer, Carroll, Cornell, Evans, Hughes, Ledson, Rodrigues, Tarry. Injured: McCann,Holmes, Whatmough, Storey. Betting Odds: Sunderland 7/5 Preston 11/2 Draw 39/10 Prutton Predicts: meh My two pence: A good win and a better performance overall against Cardiff but we still need to be more clinical, Preston are on a bit of a slump in form at the moment with no win in their last 5 games. Their season seems to be fizzling out in mid-table but they do have a few decent players in Robbie Brady and of course Sam Greenwood, who has caused us a few problems in the past. I’m going for a 2-0 home win. Live Stream: Live on Sky Sports + https://www.safc.com/live Ha’way the Lads
Again a potential banana skin game which if we play well we should win. Problem is PNE are in a bit of a slump so I hope Tuesday is not the time they decide to end their slump. I do think we have confidence creeping back into the squad at the right time and think there may well be a few twists and turns to this season. Keep playing and believing and see where we end up after the last game.
Looking forward to this, hope Roberts is okay it showed how important he is to the team when he went off at the weekend, any doubts about him and id not risk him much rather he was available for cov, be another close game but one we should be winning I’ll go 2-1 again, mayenda and jobe
Not exactly a slump, have a load of injuries, had three teenagers on the bench on Saturday, played all rightish this season, too many draws, also uffered from the Latin phrase Officitas ****us, stonewall penalty not given on Saturday at 0-0. Can't see many travelling only one coach besides that we are only three games from the Europa League and one game from Wembley. One of these days we may play you in daylight Match blog later
Think it's going to be a ask to have Roberts playing with being taken off on Saturday. Might be worth keeping him out of it and get him going for Coventry away. Mayenda has been great up front but can also be effect from the right wing. I would have him there and Wilson up through the middle. A 3 of Mundle-Wilson-Mayenda will blitz any defence and be lethal on the counter.
atm, my only worry is Patto, yes he can make amazing saves, its the silly decision making at times that is costing us
Sorry lads but games on or the day after my birthday we usually end up losing, today's the big day. However this is a different team and I've every faith in the lads getting the 3 points, any score will do as long as we win. Great thread again HTL.
Hoping a fast start, couple of early goals then controlling things before a second half third goal. Mayenda, Mundle and Isidor
Great thread as always RTB and a home win would keep the pressure on the top three . Not having Roberts available is a problem, as using Mayenda or Rigg to cover is a unfair to both, for very different reasons imo. PS Preston have conceded only 2 goals in their last 6 games, its time they let a few in, one might do but three would be better OaU
Wondering if we should think about resting Jobe tomorrow? Avoids the suspension issue and gives him a little breather. Very much unenamoured with the prospect of Browne playing in such an important role, but we need to see if there's anything there at some point. Maybe he raises his game against his old club.
Would be the biggest shock all season if he didn’t start tomorrow. He plays every minute of every game when fit, which is ridiculous.
Given he's one of our two most important players - and we're almost always worse when he's not there - it's hardly ridiculous.
There’s been a few occasions, especially recently, where he’s struggled towards the end of games. We’d have been much better off giving him a breather but that just doesn’t happen. We’ll see if it does tomorrow
No yellow card please Jobe and you're home and dry https://www.sunderlandecho.com/spor...y-preston-clash-has-huge-significance-5024915
