Sunderland vs Blackpool preview: Referee, team news, recent form and opposition view
Sunderland host Blackpool at the Stadium of Light looking to continue their fine start back in the championship after another hard-earned point against Preston North End at the weekend.
The draw meant the Black Cats dropped down to 8th position after 11 games. Preston stayed in 14th place after only winning one of their last 5 matches.
The Wearsiders will be looking to make the home advantage count when the Seasiders visit, and hopefully return to winning ways.
If Sunderland were to be victorious, they could potentially find themselves amongst the play-off spots, provided other results went in their favour.
Blackpool have only won one of their last seven matches, with their latest defeat against promotion chasing Norwich City 1-0, leaving them in 19th spot. Depending on what happens on Match day 12, The Tangerines could find themselves in the relegation zone.
Tony Mowbray has posted mixed results since replacing Alex Neil, winning two, drawing two and losing one of his first five games since taking charge.
It will be interesting to see if Mowbray will rotate the squad knowing they are still without recognised strikers Ellis Sims and Ross Stewart. One player who will be pushing for his first start is Amad Diallo, who is on loan from Manchester United, and has shown glimpses in substitute appearances, that he is up to the task.
Last meeting
Sunderland have played Blackpool plenty of late, with the most recent of them coming in the League Cup second round just last season.
The Black Cats went to Bloomfield Road as the underdogs from a lower division, but they were much the better side on the night.
They still left it late, though, with Aiden O’Brien completing a hat-trick in injury time to seal a 3-2 win for Lee Johnson’s men.
Sunderland team: Patterson; Huggins, Alves, Wright, Cirkin; Winchester, Neil’ Diamond, Pritchard, Broadhead; O’Brien
Recent form
Sunderland: WLWDD
Blackpool: LWLLL
Sunderland vs Blackpool head-to-head (last 10 matches)
Sunderland wins: 4
Draws: 3
Blackpool wins: 3
Referee: Jeremy Simpson
Jeremy Simpson will take charge of this one with Matthew McGrath and Geoffrey Liddle serving as his assistants.
That is probably not great news for Sunderland, with Simpson the man in charge of the Black Cats’ frustrating 2-2 home draw against QPR this season.
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As most will remember, that day Simpson somehow managed to miss a challenge on Dan Ballard that left the defender with a broken foot and then failed to send off Ilias Chair before he scored in the 87th minute.
Simpson officiated Sunderland twice last season too in League one and neither went well for the Wearsiders. He was in charge for the home draw with Oxford and then home defeat to Lincoln in which Chris Maguire scored a hat-trick – with all the goals coming after he probably should have been sent off.
Opposition view
Blackpool manager Michael Appleton believes he has the right formula for winning at the Stadium of Light after some good recent results with Lincoln there.
“I’ve had some good times there over the last few years, some decent performances and some decent results,” Appleton said.
“The crowd do get behind them when they’re going good and Tony has the group working well.
“I saw them against Middlesbrough recently and even though they lost the game I thought they were very good on the day.
“They play good football, but they’ve got one or two injuries themselves, so if we’re in the game and can quieten the crowd down a little bit, it’s certainly going to help us.”