PREMIER LEAGUE
Venue:
Stadium of Light Date:
Sunday, 3 May Kick-off:
1500 BST
Coverage:
Full commentary on BBC Newcastle, BBC Radio Merseyside 95.8 FM, 1485 AM, and DAB, Score updates on Final Score, BBC Sport website and BBC Radio 5 Live; live text commentary on BBC Sport website; Highlights on Match of the Day
Sunderland are still without goalkeeper Craig Gordon (knee) and defender Nyron Nosworthy (hamstring).
George McCartney is also sidelined with a calf injury.
Everton midfielder Jack Rodwell is rated doubtful having sustained a hamstring injury playing for the reserves in midweek.
Phil Jagielka is recuperating after surgery on a ruptured knee ligament sustained in last weekend's defeat to Manchester City.
Sunderland (from): Fulop, Bardsley, Ferdinand, Davenport, Collins, Edwards, Richardson, Tainio, Reid, Cisse, Jones, Malbranque, Whitehead, Leadbitter, Healy, Ben-Haim, Colback, Colgan.
Everton (from): Howard, Hibbert, Lescott, Baines, Osman, Neville, Fellaini, Vaughan, Pienaar, Cahill, Saha, Jo, Rodwell, Nash, Yobo, Castillo, Jacobsen, Gosling, Vaughan.
Sunderland manager Ricky Sbragia:
"We need to get points on the board and we cannot rely on other teams.
"The team were very quiet after our loss against West Brom but we have said that kind of display will never happen again.
"We have trained well in the latter part of this week and hope we can carry that into the game.
"But we know Everton are a good team and that they are well drilled and difficult to beat. We were well beaten by them at Goodison Park earlier this season and we have to try and reverse that result."
Everton manager David Moyes:
"I think Sunderland are hurting from their loss against West Brom last week.
"If they want to stay in the Premier League then they're going to have to do something about it.
"We know it will be a tough game, we know the crowd will be anxious, but our form is very good. We had a little bit of a blip last week but we'll be hoping to show our good form again."
Sunderland take on Everton with only a four-point cushion between themselves and the relegation zone, as they attempt to take their current Premier League stint into a third season.
Everton are still involved in the race with Aston Villa for fifth. A place in the Play-Off round for the Europa Cup will be secured, if they either win the FA Cup or finish in the top five. Should they not overhaul Villa and lose to Chelsea at Wembley, a sixth placed finish would see them in the third qualifying round for the Europa League.
Ricky Sbragia will want to see his side avenge the 3-0 defeat at Goodison Park in December, which was his first game after being appointed in full-time charge of the Black Cats.
Sbragia demands Sunderland commitment
The Toffees lost to Manchester City last time out, but have not suffered back-to-back defeats in 62 Premier League outings since losing to Newcastle (a) and Liverpool (h) on 7 and 20 October 2007 respectively.
Everton are unbeaten in eight Premier League matches against Sunderland, and have won the last three with an aggregate score of 11-1.
Distance between the clubs: 169 miles (273 kilometres)
SUNDERLAND
Going into this round of matches: 16th 35 points
1. Won one of nine Premier League matches; 1-0, home to Hull on 18 April.
2. Lost five of the last six top-flight matches.
3. Not beaten any of the top six clubs, and only taken points off Arsenal, by drawing both home and away.
4. Holding the worst record against the top-half clubs; won two and drawn four, claiming 10 points from a possible 54.
5. The current return of 35 points after 34 matches is one point down on last season, and 23 points up on 2005-06, when they were last relegated.
6. Last season's 15th placing was their highest finish since seventh in 2000-01.
7. Squandered 20 Premier League points from winning positions; only Manchester City match that. More details
8. Lost the last five against North-West opponents and picked up one point in eight. Their 1-2 away victory over Blackburn on 15 November is their only triumph in 12 against clubs from the region this season.
9. Been beaten home and away by Manchester United, Liverpool, Aston Villa, West Ham and Manchester City. Chelsea, Everton, Bolton and Portsmouth could all also do the double over them.
10. Still to entertain Chelsea on the last day of the season, 24 May. The full run-in is:- Bolton (a), Portsmouth (a) and Chelsea (h).
EVERTON
Going into this round of matches: 6th 53 points
1. Ever-presents in the Premier League; never finished higher than fourth (2004-05) or lower than 17th, and averaging 12th.
2. Never finished consecutive seasons in the top-half of the Premier League until last year - now they're certain to register three in a row, and could equal last terms fifth place.
3. Victory would take their total of Premier League points under David Moyes past the 400 mark; on 398 at present.
4. Won one of five Premier League matches; 4-0, home to Wigan on 5 April.
5. The current total of 53 points after 34 games is eight points down on last season, when fifth in the table.
5. Winless in seven away league games; drawn five and lost two.
6. Boxing Day was the last time they won on the road; 0-1, against Middlesbrough at the Riverside.
7. Conceded a goal a game on average away from home; 17 in 17.
8. Not lost to a North-East club this season (won two, drawn three), nor in nine since Newcastle's 3-2 victory at St James' Park on 7 October 2007.
9. Already achieved home and away victories over Stoke, Bolton and West Brom. Could also do the double over West Ham, Fulham, Tottenham and Sunderland.
10. The Premier League run-in after this is:- Tottenham (h), West Ham (h) and Fulham (a).
SUNDERLAND
Djibril CISSE is the club's top Premier League scorer with 10 goals.
If selected:-
Deputy keeper Marton FULOP will be making his 100th appearance for an English club (Chesterfield, Coventry, Sunderland, Leicester and Stoke).
Craig GORDON will be making his 50th appearance in a Sunderland goalkeepers' jersey.
Kieran RICHARDSON will be making his 50th appearance in Black Cats colours.
Kenwyne JONES will be making his 150th career league appearance (Southampton, Sheffield Wednesday, Stoke and Sunderland).
Nick COLGAN will be keeping goal in his 250th English and Scottish league game (Chelsea, Brentford, Reading, Hibernian, Stockport, Barnsley, Dundee United and Wigan).
If on the field from the outset:-
Dwight YORKE will be making his 50th Premier League start for the Black Cats.
EVERTON
Tim HOWARD is the only remaining player to have been on the field for every minute of every one of Everton's league and cup matches this season.
Tim CAHILL is the club's leading Premier League scorer with eight goals.
If selected:-
Joseph YOBO will be making his 200th Premier League appearance - all for Everton.
If on the field from the outset:-
HOWARD will be making his 150th English league start (Manchester United and Everton).
The Merseysiders travel to the Stadium of Light in search of a fourth successive top-flight victory there, having won the last three all by 0-1 scorelines.
If Sunderland score, they will have put 150 goals past Everton in home league games against the Merseysiders.
Everton are striving to do the double over Sunderland for the third time in the Premier League, and the second in successive seasons.
There's never been a hat-trick or a goalless draw in Premier League fixtures between Everton and Sunderland.
Everton have suffered four club record 7-0 away league losses in their history. One of those was on Wearside against Sunderland on Boxing Day 1934. Conversely, it was only 24 November 2007, when the Toffees defeated Sunderland 7-1 in a Premier League clash at Goodison Park.
Home and away
League (inc PL): Sunderland 61 wins, Everton 64, Draws 22
Prem: Sunderland 5 wins, Everton 8, Draws 2
at Sunderland only
League (inc PL): Sunderland 44 wins, Everton 18, Draws 11
Prem: Sunderland 4 wins, Everton 3, Draws 0
Sunderland 0-1 Everton
9 March 2008 - Ref: Alan Wiley
Everton scorer: Johnson 55
Everton 3-0 Sunderland
28 December 2008 - Ref: Rob Styles
Everton scorers: Arteta 10, 27, Gosling 83
Martin Atkinson (Yorkshire)
No comments:
Post a Comment