Sunderland host Sheffield United in the Championship Last time out Sunderland won at Norwich and Sheffield United lost at home to Luton. Amad Diallo and Alex Pritchard both missed the game at Norwich due to injury and could be given another game off to recover. Abdullah Ba is expected to retain his place after scoring his first goal for the club. Lynden Gooch came off the bench and will be looking to start after returning from injury. Aji Alise is now out for the season with a thigh strain, joining the long term inured list of, Embleton, Stewart & Evans. Sheffield United are going through an inconsistent patch after establishing what looked like a comfortable points tally in second place in the table, the gap is now down to 3 points with Middlesbrough in third place. Tony Mowbray: "We knew how the game was going to go and the team worked really hard. When a team tries to pass through you, you have to be set up to play the way we did today. "Of course we had to dig in, because Norwich are a good team and they pushed us back, but we got the job done. I'm pleased for the supporters who made a really long trip. "Hopefully this young team can keep pushing on. We've got 52 points and we're not looking over our shoulders. "We've got 10 games to go and the ones we lose, put them in the bin. The ones we win, let's see how many points we can accrue and where that takes us." Paul Heckingbottom: "I watched Bournemouth vs Liverpool and it was that type of game, bottom of the league, you get that whether we are playing a top team like Luton or a bottom team, you get that. "But we can control our performance and our intent and that's my point. First half [against Luton] it is not how we want to look and play, it was safe and we wanted to try and win the ball back higher and commit more bodies forward in attack. "If you watch the game back we only had one midfielder in the box once in the first half and that was Sander. You are going to have these games and people call it a slog, but we have a way of playing and an aggressive nature in how we play and we didn't see it first half." "When you are limiting a team to one shot on target you are doing something right but that can't be at the expense of creating. In the next 10 games, we have got to play with a freedom and risk the ball and be the ones forcing the issue. "That's what has got us in this position." Match Appointments: Referee: MATTHEW DONOHUE Assistant Referees: Richard Wild and Paul Hodskinson Fourth Official: Ben Toner Team Lineups: Sunderland AFC: (4-2-3-1) Patterson, Hume, Batth, Ballard, O’Nien, Neil, Michut, Roberts, Ba, Clarke, Gelhardt. Subs: Bass, Gooch, Ekwah, Lihadji, Bennette, Taylor, Anderson Injured: Embleton, Stewart, Evans, Cirkin, Alese, Huggins. Sheffield United (5-3-2) Foderingham, Egan, Ahmedhodzic, Robinson, Bogle, Berge, Norwood, Doyle, Lowe, Ndiaye, McBurnie. Subs: Davies, Baldock, Basham, Sharp, Fleck, Clark, McAtee Injured: Osborn, Stevens, Brewster, Norrington-Davies, O'Connell, Brooks. Betting Odds: Sunderland 21/10 Sheff Utd 5/4 Draw 12/5 Prutton Predicts: 1-1 My two pence: Sheffield United have lost to both Luton and Blackburn in recent weeks despite beating Premiership Tottenham in the FA cup. The Blades were looking like guaranteed top two finishers just a few weeks ago but they now lead Middlesbrough by 3 points. For those who remember former Blades and Black Cats captain John McPhail, his friends and family are looking to raise £30k to transform his home to aid his rehabilitation. https://justgiving.com/crowdfunding/johnmacphail 5th Minute Applause for John I’m going for a 2-1 home win Live Stream: Live on Sky Sports Football Ha’way the Lads
Fancy us strongly to win this one. I'll go for the same scoreline and Joffy to get a goal. Gooch higher up the pitch off the bench will be good move in the coming games. There was something on Twitter about clapping in the 5th min for John McPhail. Will try and dig it out.
Cheers RTB Looking at Sheffield United's last few games, they are 1-0 specialists, so I'm going 1-0 to the lads
40,000 under the lights and another opportunity to show the country what we can do. Reminds me of a great night at Roker Park ... ... 6-2, Alex Sabella and a Barry Siddall penalty save at the end to send us top.
Yeah, I remember it well, it was one of my school mates first ever Sunderland game, and what a game it was. - He's still addicted now
Hope he sticks with the same team. Ba and Gelhardt looked a decent combination and we were far more solid and compact in the midfield. Gut feeling says a draw
It's mostly tight affairs with this lot, sweating over a 1-0 like we did Sunday isn't good for my heart but I'll take it if we get the win. Don't care who scores as long as TM and the lads find a way to bag the three points HTL. Only 9 more left RTB, top lad.
Have they seen our injury list ... .... longer than the list of jobs Mrs Smug just gave me “I'm not known for negativity, but I really do expect a defeat against the Mackems” https://www.s24su.com/forum/threads/team-for-sunderland.94594/
This is about the 14th televised Sunderland match this season so far, I think...including our BBC1 match against Fulham. I could be wrong though mind....
Was there that night, it was 4-0 with no more than 5 mins left of the 90. AND Sabella was the best player on the pitch. By far the best game I’ve been to. Bart
I agree. So, it's important that we ramp up the pressure on them from the start and wait for them to crack. 1-0 home win will do for me, but a comfortable 3-0 would be better for the ticker. Another cracking thread RTB. I'll be lost without these from 9th May.
Great one again RTB.....not that I want to be controversial but I'm getting for a 3 - 0 to the lads. Gelhardt hat trick followed by a kiss from O9......LOL
Hoping that we repeat our performance on Saturday. Would love to see Joffy on the scoresheet. Heart says win, but heads says draw And a great thread as always RTB hawaaeaaaaay
Great thread again @RTB thanks for taking the time out to do it. Think this will be tight but we can edge it. I think we we would certainly have got something out of the game at their place if we’d kept 11 on the pitch. 2-1 Home win.
