SUNDERLAND | MATCH DAY BLOG | REVENGE TOUR?
You’d best believe I’m dreaming about revenge for that horrible Stadium of Light draw last season. Daniel Ballard roaming around our box like Andy Sutton back in the day. We need to put that wrong very right.
The story of Sunderland so far this season is they aren’t scoring many goals, but they are fairly tight in defence. The only teams that have conceded less xG are Arsenal and Man City.
They are very mid-table in attack, they have Brobbey, who was a bit of a star last season, and we’re all aware of what their wide players can do on their day. Also… Malick Fofana, the second choice for Arsenal behind Vini Jnr, could also be the reason on the Arsenal away day death certificate if we don’t watch out.
My expectations today, based on form, is that we exit with 3 points. I’d love to imagine that our superb attacking displays will continue, and we’ll unload three goals, but we know post-Champions League, with a bunch of plane delays, and Arteta playing trumpets outside the players’ rooms… things could get a little tough out there.
Sunderland bullied us last year, it’s one of their superpowers, and at home, in front of 50,000 wasted Mackems, they are more than capable of nicking an early goal and making the afternoon very tough for us.
Momentum is the most powerful drug in sport, and we’re mainlining that into the players’ isotonic drinks at the moment. We need to keep that going, we need to continue to give minutes to the whole squad, and we need to rack up points in places that you need to rack them up in… because this season will probably be tight again.
The team is VERY strong. I was expecting to see Bruno in the midfield, but outside that, you can’t really argue with what you’re looking at. Myles is king in the midfield and Zubi can’t get a sniff at the moment. The rest of the team is reflective of the best players in the best form.
But seriously… look at that bench. It is out of this world how strong we are these days. Hincapie and Timber start for most teams in the league. Merino won a World Cup. Bruno is one of the best midfielders in the world. Zubimendi is an outrageous talent. ALL BENCHED.
Arteta not messing around. We’re about to see how good we can be this season, because the games right after a travel night in Europe are always beastly.
Ok, short one today, we’re going LIVE right after the whistle. Your only job right now is to get yourself in the comments section and sign up to see the LIVE shot if you haven’t already. x