Sunderland travel to Plough Lane to face AFC Wimbledon in the Skybet League One. Last time out Sunderland beat Port Vale and Wimbledon beat Bristol Rovers. While EFL Trophy progress is all very well, it is the Black Cats' performances and results in the league that will be the main measure by which this season is judged. Lee Johnson may have to make a number of changes after revealing the latest injury update and after some good performances on Tuesday night. New signing Carl Winchester is expected to play having signed at the weekend. Grigg, Graham, Flanagan & McLaughlan all missed Tuesdays game due to injury, and Denver Hume has had a setback in his recovery plan with a recurrence of the hamstring injury, but Luke O’Nien is on the road back to recovery and about 2 weeks away. AFC Wimbledon have signed Reading goalkeeper Sam Walker on loan. The former Colchester United stopper will fill the void left by Connal Trueman being recalled by Birmingham City. The Wombles go into their 21st game of the season with 21 points and sit in 21st position in League 1. Lee Johnson: “Unfortunately, Denver (Hume) has had a recurrence of his injury. He has a grade three hamstring tear, which probably means somewhere between six and eight weeks.” “I feel for him first and foremost, he’d worked really hard and got up to top speed, but from a very innocuous stretch the injury has recurred.” "Conor (McLaughlan) is potentially going to be out now for a while because he needs a hernia operation, and has done for a while. He can't sprint at the moment as a result.” said Johnson. "He's another one that has shown top character to put in the performances that he has while in pain. I've had a hernia myself and sometimes it does get a bit too much and you just can't sprint like you used to be able to.” "Right-back is one of the least concerns for me because of the players we have got who can play there.” "Danny (Graham) missed out in the week due to injury. It was a strange one - it came from nowhere. He has a bit of a niggle on the outside of his right knee.” “There’s much better news about Luke (O’Nien). There’s always a risk that there could be a recurrence, but we have to take his confidence levels and how far he’s willing to progress it.” “If all goes well, I would hope that in about 10 days to two weeks he will be available for selection, and we have a decision to make now about whether to have it scanned or not.” Glyn Hodges: “We needed a win and a clean sheet and I don’t care what competition it came in,” said Glyn. The boys can take confidence from this going into Saturday. Sam (Walker) came in and did well and the back four in front of him were excellent. We worked our socks off and we got the rewards.” “You always want that second goal, but there’s no better score-line than winning 1-0 away from home. I felt in the first-half that the quality could have been better. I thought we were getting in good positions, we turned down a couple of chances to shoot, and I felt that we could do better. We did that in the second-half and we caused them a few problems.” “We went quite strong tonight, but we put a few in. We had to rest a few and there were players getting back to fitness and a few getting over Covid, so there was a mixture out there tonight, but it was just pleasing to get the win and take the confidence into the next game.” “I don’t think we’ve been playing badly, and the win has been coming. I think we’ve played better recently than tonight and lost, so it’s just about finding that chemistry and balance that gets you over the line.” Match Appointments: Referee: ANTONY COGGINS Assistant Referees: Louis Marks and Kevin Howick Fourth Official: Stuart Butler Team Line ups Sunderland: Burge, Power, Wright, Sanderson, McFadzean, Winchester, Leadbitter, Embleton, Diamond, O’Brien, McGeady. Subs: Matthews, Willis, Younger, Scowen, Maguire, Curry, Gooch. Injured: Xhemajli, Kimpioka, O’Nien, Hume, Flanagan, Grigg, McLaughlan AFC Wimbledon: Walker, Csoka, Nightingale, Oksanen, Guinness-Walker, Alexander, Reilly, Rudoni, Woodyard, Pigott, Longman. Subs: Tzanev, Chislett, Kalambayi, Hartigan, Procter, Palmer Injured: O'Neill, Osew, Heneghan, Thomas Betting Odds: Home 15/4 Away 7/10 Draw 5/2 My two pence: ++++++++++++++++++++ *** Note the early kick-off *** ++++++++++++++++++++ Very sad news for Denver Hume – I hope he gets back to fitness soon. Lee Johnson might have a few other decisions to make for this one after some good performances from Neil, Gooch, Embleton & O’Brien on Tuesday. Wimbledon had a good win mid-week so I think this might be a tighter game than you would expect from the current standings. I’m going for a 2-1 away win. Live stream £10 https://www.safc.com/news/team-news/live-video Ha’way the Lads
To be perfectly honest I look at these match threads rather than the club website, top work mate. It's hard to predict these threads because I know nothing about the opposition or who we'll have available. So I'm going for my usual 3-0, one day I'll be right I notice no one in the top half has scored less than us or conceded less ... ... which means we only need to increase our scoring slightly to make a huge difference.
Ie get a couple strikers in rather than the muppets taking a share of the wage bill under false pretences atm.
Think we will win 2-0, got to put a run together and quick. What’s the crack with the early kick off ??
Your match OPs are one of the best features of this forum.. Keyboard warrior antics the worst. I am going for a Sunderland win, we may concede a goal but I am hoping we score a couple, plus any penalties...please
9 goals in the previous three years and none for us up to now and folk want O'Brien leading the line for us? Find that strange considering how awful he's been. Wyke may be terrible but has 7 in 17 this season so really should be starting. We desperately need a decent striker for this league
HA'WAY THE LADS MACKEMS ATTACKEM Nice win in the cup, hopefully carry it on to where it matters most in the league.
Just guessing but it's possible people think O'Brien might suit the style of play Johnson wants. Despite Wyke having knocked a few in were the worst scoring side in the top half. If we carry on doings the way we currently are we'll finish outside the top six. Against Port Vale O'Brien pulled the central defenders out of place which the likes of Gooch need to exploit.
Did you watch the last game? - O'Brien was all over the pitch and he scored the first goal! Wyke can sit this one out on the shelf - he's got a bad back anyway. https://safc.com/news/team-news/2021/january/afc-wimbledon-a/afc-wimbledon-press-conference
I love these match day threads so thankyou RTB. For me this is a must win. We have to start turning draws into wins to start climbing this division. Im a little worried about our injuries but despite us moaning about recruitment for the past few years the possible line up is not bad though thank god for our youngsters. Hoping Power does another good job at RB and our attacking play clicks tomorrow for which I think O'brien needs another crack. Despite Wyke being our top scorer and being worthy of some credit we need better and if we find better within our current squad all the better!!
0-2 win for the lads. I think your just about bang on with the the side but I think Willis will play instead of Sanderson