Date: Wednesday, January 29 Venue: Stadium Of Light Kick-Off: 19:45
Team News
Sunderland can pick from an almost full strength squad, as the only absentees are Carlos Cuellar and goalkeeper Kieran Westwood, who are both long term casualties. Connor Wickham has been recalled from his loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday, while Santiago Vergini may make his Premier League debut after arriving on loan earlier this month. Stoke also have very little concerns on the injury front but are without Matthew Etherington, Andy Wilkinson and Robert Huth. Peter Odemwingie could feature after he arrived from Cardiff, with Kenwyne Jones going the other way.
Key Stats
Adam Johnson has scored four goals in his last two Premier League appearances but his side haven't won a Premier League game on home soil since early November. This isn't a game for goals, as there have only been five in the last four meetings between the two sides. Lee Cattermole is instrumental for Sunderland as they've picked up an average 1.1 points when he has played but just 0.5 when he hasn't featured. Stoke have won 61% of their aerial duels this season, the highest in the division.
This is a game that matches up the worst home side in the league and the worst away side, with the hosts not picking up three points on home soil since November and the visitors not clinching an away victory since August. A victory for Sunderland could pull them out of the bottom three and put them a single point behind tomorrows competitors, dragging Stoke further into the relegation battle. Sunderland are the in form side of the two with just one loss in their last five games and fresh off sealing their place at Wembley for the Capital One Cup final. Stoke meanwhile haven't won since before Christmas and have lost four of their last five games, exiting the FA Cup just a few days ago at the hands of Chelsea. This game will probably come down to who is least bad, rather than who is the best. Prediction Sunderland 2-1 Stoke City
Josh has had work featured in the Evening Gazette and on Newcastle United website. He is a Multimedia Journalism student at Teesside University and runs a successful sports blog. He also enjoys films, comics and TV, writing about anything he can. Josh has recently started writing his first of what he hopes will be many books.
