The Match
Sunderland have started the season in indifferent form, and have only managed one win in six games so far. That came in the League Cup second round, though they now find themselves out of the competition after losing at home midweek to Stoke, so they're still looking for their first win of the season in the Premier League. They should fancy their chances against a Swansea side many had tipped to struggle this season, and with Steven Fletcher & Connor "Wickaldinho" Wickham potentially available they've got players who can make a difference up top.
Swansea got back to winning ways last time out against Everton in the League Cup, which will have been a relief after tasting defeat in their two prior matches against Chelsea & Southampton. Impressively, we claimed victory over Roberto Martinez's side without coming close to playing anywhere near our best, so the big positive would be there's still lots of scope for improvement. With Bony likely to come back into the starting eleven keen to prove a point following a one-match suspension, the Swans most definitely have a chance of bringing all three points home from the North East.
Prior Form (Most recent at top)
| League Cup | Swansea | 3-0 | Everton |
| Premier League | Swansea | 0-1 | Southampton |
| Premier League | Chelsea | 4-2 | Swansea |
| Premier League | Swansea | 3-0 | West Brom |
| League Cup | Swansea | 1-0 | Rotherham |
| League Cup | Sunderland | 1-2 | Stoke |
| Premier League | Burnley | 0-0 | Sunderland |
| Premier League | Sunderland | 2-2 | Tottenham |
| Premier League | QPR | 1-0 | Sunderland |
| League Cup | Birmingham | 0-3 | Sunderland |
Team News - Provided by injury guru @BenDinnery
Garry Monk will welcome back Wilfried Bony for the trip to the Stadium of Light after the Ivorian striker was sent-off last weekend during the defeat to Southampton. Leon Britton [knee – stress fracture] and Jordi Amat [LCL] are still around a month away while Rory Donnelly continues his recovery following ankle surgery. Dwight Tiendalli [minor groin strain] has a chance but the Swans starting eleven could remain unchanged despite their midweek win over Everton in the Capital One cup.
Gus Poyet has been particularly cagey regarding the availability of his players ahead of the game on Saturday with doubts regarding “a couple [who still] have a few problems, I don’t want to give too much information away but we need to wait for one of them until tomorrow morning [to make a decision].”
The Black Cats have concerns over Emanuele Giaccherini [ankle], Connor Wickham [back], Wes Brown and Steven Fletcher [both calf] – but in my opinion the Italian midfielder could be the one to miss out after hobbling off at Turf Moor last weekend. However full-back Jones and Buckley will feature after their impressive performance against Stoke “Will [Buckley] is going to play & Billy [Jones] as well, for sure,” confirmed Poyet. On-loan defender Seb Coates has been ruled out with a thigh injury.
Thanks as usual to Ben for providing us with up-to-date team news. You can follow him on Twitter @BenDinnery, and you can also find him on Talksport, ESPN & PremierInjuries.com
Garry Monk will welcome back Wilfried Bony for the trip to the Stadium of Light after the Ivorian striker was sent-off last weekend during the defeat to Southampton. Leon Britton [knee – stress fracture] and Jordi Amat [LCL] are still around a month away while Rory Donnelly continues his recovery following ankle surgery. Dwight Tiendalli [minor groin strain] has a chance but the Swans starting eleven could remain unchanged despite their midweek win over Everton in the Capital One cup.
Gus Poyet has been particularly cagey regarding the availability of his players ahead of the game on Saturday with doubts regarding “a couple [who still] have a few problems, I don’t want to give too much information away but we need to wait for one of them until tomorrow morning [to make a decision].”
The Black Cats have concerns over Emanuele Giaccherini [ankle], Connor Wickham [back], Wes Brown and Steven Fletcher [both calf] – but in my opinion the Italian midfielder could be the one to miss out after hobbling off at Turf Moor last weekend. However full-back Jones and Buckley will feature after their impressive performance against Stoke “Will [Buckley] is going to play & Billy [Jones] as well, for sure,” confirmed Poyet. On-loan defender Seb Coates has been ruled out with a thigh injury.
Completely guessed lineups
Key Players
A new feature in the preview this year, I'll be using statistical radars to show two of the key attacking threats on display
This week I thought we'd compare Connor Wickham vs Wilfried Bony. As you can see from the radars, Wickham is all about the goals and not a lot else, whereas Bony is a bit more rounded. Wickham did only play the equivalent of 9.43 games for Sunderland last season, but when he played his stats were impressive. Let's hope Ash & Freddy can keep a close watch on him throughout.
A new feature in the preview this year, I'll be using statistical radars to show two of the key attacking threats on display
Connor Wickham vs Wilfried Bony ( Stats from 2013/14)
Statistics & Trivia
- Sunderland conceded seven goals to Swansea last season, only Arsenal and Tottenham scored as many against the Black Cats.
- Along with Liverpool, Swansea are one of two teams yet to draw this season. Sunderland have drawn a league-high four times this term.
- After winning four games in a row in April/May, Sunderland have now gone six games without a victory (L2 D4).
- Sunderland have kept three clean sheets in four Premier League home games against Welsh sides.
- Swansea have kept only three clean sheets in their last 18 Premier League games.
- Swansea have won just eight corners in five league games this season.
- Gylfi Sigurdsson has assisted four Premier League goals this season; he has never recorded more than four in a single campaign in England.
- Garry Monk's Premier League win percentage of 42% is better than Brendan Rodgers (32%) or Michael Laudrup (27%) recorded for the Swans.
- Gus Poyet's win percentage of 28% at Sunderland is level with former Black Cats managers Steve Bruce and Roy Keane. Peter Reid (33%) and Martin O'Neill (29%) are the only bosses with a higher rate.
Straight from the horse's mouth
Garry Monk has revealed the lengths he's going to to ensure his players have the best support possible:
"We won it a couple of years ago. It would be nice to go on a cup run and we also want to bounce back because we lost to Southampton. It would be nice to try to make sure we don't lose the next one.
"We'll go to win the game. We'll assess the players and see how they all are and then we'll make a judgement from there.
"It's always great to see Roberto. I know him very well and I know he will want to win the game like I will want to win the game. It will be a good cup tie, it will be an interesting one. We are at home, I am sure the fans will be right up for it and hopefully we can get the right result."
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/personal-touch-garry-monk-details-7835683
Gus Poyet is looking for his players to stand up and be counted:
“The biggest problem is I need all the players to stand up – the big, big players. The ones who have played at the highest level or cost a lot of money, not the one we brought from Brighton [Buckley].
“I think it’s close to a moment when I’m going to have to make a bit stronger decisions and go with what I think will get victory and not what is expected. Against Spurs, I was honest and said that’s why you pay £30m for a player – for someone who is better technically than you, quicker than you and stronger than you, but at Burnley, it should have been the opposite way around.
“I didn’t see that and it’s happened too many times. I’m responsible. I make the changes and then the players need to take responsibility individually first and as a team afterwards.
“There are things we all need to improve. It’s not as simple as people think. It’s not just a case of ‘he is better than someone else’. The team might perform better with the ones who are not as good individually.
“You need to find the right balance.”
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/gus-poyet-ready-drop-sunderlands-7835116
Analysis
The games are certainly coming thick and fast now, and the international break seems like a very distant memory. Following on from our win in the League Cup the Swans should be confident, and given we didn't even play to our best (far from it, in fact), there's reason to be confident we can get a positive result here.
I think the key battle will be in midfield. Lee Cattermole is an excellent destroyer and he's capable, on his day, of upsetting any midfield. We'll have to be clever to retain possession, and if we can move the ball quickly there's every chance Cattermole will pick up a yellow card given his combative nature - this would then put an entirely different complexion on the battle in the centre of the park.
Since doing the image for the teamsheet I've been told by Gavin from Roker Report (an excellent Sunderland website) that Wes Brown isn't available, and that Vergini is likely to replace him. The jury is still out on him - I can't say I know too much about him but it'll be interesting to see how he gets on with Wilfried Bony, and the same is true for John O'Shea. Bony enjoyed a wonderful time of it the last time these two sides met and I'm sure he'll be firmly aware of that, as will the Sunderland defence.
Sunderland potentially have both Connor Wickham and Steven Fletcher available again, though whether one or either feature is up for debate. I'm personally a big fan of both players, and I think that Fletcher in particularly is absolutely deadly on his day. Hopefully Ash & Freddy Fernandez can snuff out any prospective Sunderland attacks, and keep the ball away from Lukasz Fabianski's goal.
I'm confident of a Swansea win to be honest. Against Everton we won without playing that well, and if we can improve our level of confidence I think we'll have too much for Everton. As usual my prediction is tinged by massive amounts of bias and locally-skewed logic, but I do think we can get a result here. We've looked solid at the back, and good in attack. If we can boss midfield for ninety minutes, we've got a great chance of three points.