Sunderland won again last Friday against Sheffield Wednesday despite suffering a little setback five days earlier.
Cardiff City had beaten the Black Cats 1-0 at the Stadium of Light, due to a late Mark McGuinness header, but the Wearsiders were dominant at Hillsborough, leading by three goals before half-time.
Tony Mowbray’s side will be hoping to close the gap on the top three in the league when struggling Watford visits the North East on Wednesday night, depending on the results between Leicester and Preston North End and Ipswich Town’s clash with Hull City.
Let’s take a look at the latest news from Sunderland before of their match against Valerien Ismael’s team.
Unknown injury will hamper selection before Watford match
The absence of first-team players Pierre Ekwah, Bradley Dack, and Dennis Cirkin—all of whom are still injured—was already anticipated by Tony Mowbray, but a fresh problem has emerged before of the Watford game.
Mowbray has acknowledged that he had to make a last-minute modification to his tactical strategy and starting lineup due to a new injury issue this week.
“Without telling you everything, we’ve had to do some tactical changes today,” Mowbray said, per The Northern Echo.
“You’ll see the team when it comes out, but there’s a big difference with the injury that’s been picked up.
“That’s meant we’ve had to move the team around to make it work.
“We’ve had to do that to make sure we have enough people attacking and enough people defending.
“Otherwise, you have players moving too much in and out of possession and the balance of the team isn’t right.
“There’s lots of tactical stuff we’ve had to, but this group embrace that. It’s good that they want to learn.
“The challenges are always there. We have picked up an injury to a pretty key player in the way we play, but let’s just push on and see if we can keep the fluency of the team going.”
Neil asserts a Premier League position
Dan Neil has been a regular starter and stalwart for Sunderland in the past few years since coming through the academy, and in the summer window there was shock late interest from Liverpool, according to Football Insider.
Nothing materialised however, but Neil believes he can get to the top flight of English football and fulfil his dreams with the Black Cats.
“I fully believe in this squad that we’ve got here,” Neil said, per the Sunderland Echo.
“I know it looks young on paper but I think we are more than good enough to compete at the top end of the table and hopefully achieve that goal of getting back to the Premier League.”
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Southampton is still interested in winger
Southampton planned to attack their Championship opponents for Patrick Roberts during the summer transfer window in addition to plucking simply Ross Stewart from the team.
The elusive winger remained at the Stadium of Light, though, as Southampton’s offer, which totaled £5 million with add-ons, according to Mark McAdam of Sky Sports, was rejected.
Darren Witcoop, the Sunday Mirror’s sports editor, claims that the Saints do not have any immediate plans to stop their interest in Roberts, who has a contract that would expire in 2024 if he does not sign a new one.
