Swansea vs Sunderland preview: Referee, team news, recent form and opposition view
Sunderland head to Wales to take on Swansea at the Liberty Stadium in one of the eight games they face in a 35-day period before the Qatar World Cup.
The Northeast side will look to take advantage of having an extra day's rest knowing the Swans played at Watford on Wednesday night.
The Black Cats could only draw at home to Blackpool on Tuesday night, while the Welsh side secured an impressive 2-1 win against the Hornets, meaning they have won four of their last five heading into the game.
The Wearsiders will be backed by almost 2,000 supporters after they sold their ticket allocation for the match this weekend.
Swansea are the bookies favourites to win the game, but this won’t faze Tony Mowbray.
Sunderland have gained 17 points from their opening 12 games this season in their first season back in the Championship after four seasons in league one.
Mowbray will feel encouraged by the fact that his side are unbeaten in their last four games, recording two clean sheets in the process.
Last meeting
The last time the two sides met was in the 2016/17 Premier League season when Swansea prevailed 2-0 over the Black Cats, who had already been relegated down to the Championship.
Both goals came in the first half of the match, and the Sunderland supporters booed their team off at half-time and the final whistle. They had only taken 14 points from their home matches, the fewest in the division at the time and went 10 matches without victory and failed to score in seven of them.
Sunderland team: Pickford, Jones, Kone, O’Shea, Manquillo, Ndong, Denayer, Larsson, Borini, Defoe, Anichebe
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Recent form
Swansea: WLWWW
Sunderland: LWDDD
Swansea vs Sunderland head-to-head (last 10 matches)
Swansea wins: 3
Draws: 6
Sunderland wins: 1
Referee: Gavin Ward
Gavin Ward will take charge of this one, and he is a rarity in terms of a referee with whom the Black Cats have relatively little baggage.
Ward has not officiated Sunderland so far this season. In fact, our paths have not crossed since he was the man in the middle for the 2-1 away defeat at Wigan in April 2021.
He will be assisted by Andrew Dallison and Bhupinder Gill with Ollie Yates acting as the fourth official.
Opposition view
Swansea recorded an impressive 2-1 win over Watford in midweek, and boss Russell Martin believes he is just started to build some serious momentum at the club.
He, though, is seeing the visit of Sunderland as a big 'test' as to whether they can maintain their current momentum.
“We’ve lost one game in six, to Sheffield United, which is a game we felt we should have got something from,” Martin said.
“We’re becoming hard to beat, first and foremost.
“I think there’s a real resilience about the group that we didn’t quite have last year, for a number of reasons.
“I think the biggest challenge is getting the players to believe in themselves as much as we believe in them, individually and as a group.
“They’re really starting to believe now.
“The fans I feel have a real connection with the team because of the foundations we built last year and what they’re seeing now.
“Hopefully we’ve rewarded everyone for a bit of patience. It’s up to the boys now to be relentless.
“We have to turn this week into a brilliant one and turn it into the best one we’ve had since we’ve been here and try and back it up on Saturday.
“That’s the next test.”
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