Predicted Sunderland line-up vs Sheffield United: Has Ba earned another star?
Tony Mowbray could be tempted to go with the same Sunderland starting line-up that beat Norwich 1-0 at Carrow Road when they host Sheffield United.
Mowbray made three changes from the side that were dismantled by Stoke in Sunderland’s last home game with Abdoullah Ba, Luke O’Nien and Edouard Michut returning to the starting XI.
Ba scored the only goal of the game whilst O’Nien and Michut both delivered positive performances.
Lynden Gooch made his long-awaited return from injury from the bench. Pierre Ekwah and Isaac Lihadji also made appearances as substitutes in Sunday’s 1-0 win.
Sheffield United sit second in the league but have only won two of their last six league games and will be looking over their shoulder at Middlesbrough, who are now only four points behind the Blades.
After Sunday’s win Sunderland sit 10th, five points off sixth placed Millwall, the Lads will be looking for all three points with difficult games against Luton and Burnley on the horizon.
Predicted Sunderland line-up vs Sheffield United (4-2-3-1):
GK: Anthony Patterson – Made five saves against Norwich to claim his 11th clean sheet of the season.
RB: Trai Hume – Was the most fouled player on the pitch against Norwich after drawing three fouls.
CB: Danny Batth – Man of the match on Sunday after a dominant display defensively.
CB: Dan Ballard – Similar performance to Batth and made his own case for man of the match.
LB: Luke O’Nien – Mr. versatility did a solid job when he filled in at left back in the absence of Aji Alese and Dennis Cirkin.
CM: Dan Neil – A much improved display from Neil compared to the week before.
CM: Edouard Michut – Another great performance from Michut and Sunderland should be looking to make his loan from PSG a permanent in the summer,
RM: Patrick Roberts – Leads the league in successful dribbles per 90 minutes with 3.6.
AM: Abdoullah Ba – Scored his first goal for the club in only his sixth start.
LM: Jack Clarke – A good all-round performance from Clarke against Norwich. A threat going forward but also put a defensive shift in with four tackles and two interceptions and clearances.
ST: Joe Gelhardt – Had his best game in a Sunderland shirt against Norwich with great link-up play and unlucky not to score.
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