Fulham vs Sunderland FA Cup 4th round preview: How to watch, recent form and referee

All you need to know ahead of the game against Fulham.

Author:
Will Jeffries
Publish date:
Jan 27, 2023 8:13 PM EST

Sunderland head to West London to face In-form Premier League side Fulham with a place in the 5th Round of the FA Cup up for grabs.

This year is the 50th Anniversary of the 1973 FA Cup success for Sunderland, and they will be hoping for a little more magic.

This is the first FA Cup meeting between the two sides since the fourth round in the 2014/15 season, with the Black Cats prevailing 3-1 winners in a replay.

The Cottagers booked their place in the fourth round with a 2-0 victory of Marco Silva's former side Hull City, while goals in injury time from Luke O'Nien and Ross Stewart saw Sunderland come back at the death to beat Shrewsbury Town 2-1.

How to Watch Fulham vs Sunderland

When: Saturday 28th January, 2022 - Kick Off: 3pm
Where: Craven Cottage
TV: ESPN (United States), SportsNet Now (Canada) and Paramount+ (Australia)
Radio: BBC 5 Radio Live

The game won't be broadcast live on TV in the UK, but you can still watch the game live on the foreign streaming platforms.

Alternatively, you can listen to the game on the Radio.

Team News

Fulham have no fresh injury concerns ahead of the weekend, Neeskens Kebano (Ruptured Achilles) is the only long term absentee.

Carlos Vinicius will likely lead the line to give Aleksandar Mitrovic a rest, while Marek Rodak, Tom Cairney and Tosin Adarabioyo could be in line for recalls and Manor Solomon will be pushing to start after making three substitute appearances.

For Sunderland, Corry Evans suffered an ACL tear earlier this week and will miss the rest of the season, Dennis Cirkin, Lynden Gooch and Luke O'Nien (suspension) will all miss the game.

New signing Pierre Ekwah could come into the equation after his move from West Ham, while Niall Huggins trained this week and could also come into Tony Mowbray's thoughts.

Pierre Ekwah Sunderland scarf — Sunderland AFC

Last Meeting

The two teams last played each other in the Championship in April 2018, where Fulham prevailed 2-1 winners at Craven Cottage.

The Sunderland goal was scored by Joel Asoro.

Sunderland team: Steele, Jones, Kone, O'Shea, McNair, Wilson, Ejaria, Honeyman, Robson, Asoro, Fletcher

Recent Form

Fulham: WWWLL
Sunderland: WWDLW

Head-to-head (Last 10 matches)

Fulham wins: 3
Draws: 3
Sunderland wins: 4

Who is the Referee for Fulham vs Sunderland?

Michael Salisbury will take charge of this game and has refereed 27 games over the last 12 months and has issued 44 yellow cards.

Salisbury last refereed a Sunderland match back in May 2021, when Sunderland beat Lincoln City 2-1 in the second leg of their Semi-Final play-off match.

He will be assisted by Matthew Wilkes and Mark Scholes, with Leigh Doughty acting as the fourth official. There will also be VAR in operation, with Graham Scott in the hotseat.

What the Managers have said

Marco Silva is wary of the threat Sunderland will pose and is looking forward to a close game between two teams who are on the up.

Silva said: "It's our ambition to do well in the FA Cup, a historic competition that's really important for all clubs. Myself as a manager and our players will do our best to go through.

"They're really well supported and tomorrow we'll feel that we're playing an FA Cup match against a club with a great fan base and a squad of players who want to do well in the competition".

Tony Mowbray believes the Fulham game will be a tough match, but it provides a platform for his side to test their credentials against Premier League opposition.

Mowbray said: "The history of every football club is crucially important.

"I'm very conscious of 50 years ago (when Sunderland last listed the FA Cup). We want to do well, but we have to put into context that we're playing against a team that is one of the form teams in the Premier League at this moment.

"I know that they have lost two really tight games (against Newcastle United and Spurs) and I have watched both of them games and they probably didn't deserve to lose either of them, but they did.

"I think the balance for their manager is whether they try and find a winning way again to get more confidence and belief, or do they look to the next league game and keep going and see if they can qualify for Europe.

"When I look at their squad, even the players that haven't played on a regular basis are still players that played every week in the Championship last year. The likes of Tom Cairney isn't a regular starter, Harry Wilson hasn't been a regular starter... and yet they ripped the Championship to shreds last year, they were way to good for that division.

"Whoever they play, whatever team they put out, they are going to be really difficult to play against and we should be ready for that.

"I don't see it as a game where we put all the kids in and it doesn't really matter, it's a game where we will have a huge travelling support and we need to go and try and be competitive against a really good team.

"Let's see where we are; let's check out our credentials almost and see if we can compete with a team that is flying pretty high in the Premier League."

Predicted Sunderland line-up vs Fulham

Sunderland are expected to put out a strong team despite the spate of injury problems facing Tony Mowbray.

I mean, let's face it: Sunderland play the kids every week. Kids is pretty much all they have.

Predicted Sunderland line-up (4-2-3-1): Bass; Wright, Ballard, Batth, Hume; Neil, Michut; Roberts, Amad, Bennette; Stewart