| taken from: www1.skysports.com |
Sunderland scoring more than once in a game has not happened for a long long time before last week and the three goals will have been a good motivation for the players. Martin O'Neill will be worried though, as they did it against ten men and even so, looked really uncomfortable during the game. O'Neill should start the same eleven that started last week although seeing that they are playing at home, I will play Gardner instead of Bardsley as well as Vaughan in place of Colback to try and garner a bit more attacking edge. Watching Sunderland, their attacking performance only truly improved when they started playing with more width. When they played narrowly, they seemed to only drift in front of the back four of Fulham and moved along the width of the pitch. With both teams employing a rough 4-2-3-1 formation, there is just one obvious difference in the make up of the teams. Long likes to run down the flanks to chase through balls from his team while Fletcher prefers to stay in the middle and wait for balls closer to goal. With Fletcher employing such a tactic in the team, they have a prime target for crosses. They do have the pair of wide midfielders in Larsson and Adam Johnson who can deliver a good cross and this tactic will work well if O'Neill tries it out. At the back, Sunderland will be faced against the formidable Shane Long, who has been a really consistent performer this season. The duo of John O'Shea and Carlos Cuellar do not inspire confidence in me despite their obvious defending skills as they tend to be sloppy in their passing, something that Long will definitely punish and he will chase down every loose ball.
West Brom's confidence should be at an all time high after beating Chelsea and besting their in terms of play for parts of the game. McAuley should return to the starting line up while Foster is still a doubt for the game. West Brom's weakest point this season has been their two deep lying midfielders, Yacob and Mulumbu. Those two can be imperious on their day but their passing accuracy has been inconsistent at best. Sunderland might want to press heavily to take advantage of this, with Cattermole being particularly effective in making interceptions. Besides Long, West Brom's other trump card comes in the form of Odemwingie. Playing as the right winger, he has proved a constant thorn for the opponents and has already scored 4 goals this season. He will be coming up against Rose, who has not proved to be the best defensively although Rose has the pace to catch up with him. West Brom's one main advantage is that they have a stronger bench to call upon, with the possibility of bringing on Lukaku to bully the Sunderland defence once they tire. With the players having to follow the runs of Long whole day long, it will not be surprising to see Sunderland's defenders being tired at the end of the game and that will be when Clark can start making game changing substitutions.
Predictions:
A low scoring affair seems to be on the cards though I can't be too sure about it. Thus, I suggest going for under 3.5 goals at 4/11 although the pickings are slim. More decent value can be found at Lukaku scoring last for 7/1, while West Brom scoring last is also good enough for me at 11/10. I will say that I expect West Brom to edge this game narrowly and I fancy a punt at Draw/West Brom, which is available at 21/4. Good value I will say.
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