Aiming to bounce back following their heaviest defeat of the season, Sunderland will welcome Bristol City
The Black Cats were thumped in the North-East by Blackburn Rovers on a woeful Easter Monday for the hosts, whilst Bristol City recorded a victory over Plymouth Argyle on the same afternoon.
Ever since the sacking of Tony Mowbray as head coach and the arrivalto the Stadium of Light for a Championship clash on Saturday afternoon. of Michael Beale into the Stadium of Light hotseat, Sunderland’s season has experienced more highs than lows, and supporters will be hoping that Monday’s 5-1 defeat to Blackburn will be the worst that it gets this campaign.
Interim boss Mike Dodds described his side’s performance as “pathetic” as they went four goals down due to goals from Ryan Hedges, Tyrhys Dolan and two from Sammie Szmodics, with 16-year-old Chris Rigg reducing the deficit for the hosts before Andy Moran capped off a brilliant afternoon for John Eustace‘s strugglers.
Following an appearance in the Championship playoffs last season under the expert leadership of Mowbray, a chaotic season for the Black Cats – and the departure of key men in the summer – has left them marooned in midtable with six matches to play, with Saturday’s hosts 13 points behind sixth-placed Norwich City.
A shining light in a fairly-faltering campaign for Sunderland has been former Tottenham Hotspur man Jack Clarke, who netted 15 second-tier goals in 34 appearances before suffering an ankle ligament injury in the middle of February, leaving his side especially light in terms of gamewinners at the top end of the pitch.
The Black Cats’ record of 10 home wins from 20 Championship matches at the Stadium of Light is respectable, however Dodds’s men have been too easy to beat on their own patch at the same time, losing on nine occasions in the North-East – the same number that League One-bound Rotherham United have been defeated at their AESSEAL New York Stadium base.
After a worrying run of four-straight defeats which ended their chances of making a last-gasp push for the playoffs, Bristol City now have collected nine points from their last four Championship matches, including three at the home of Plymouth on Easter Monday following some brave management from Liam Manning.
Sensing his side needed a change of personnel for the second period, the 38-year-old boldly made three alterations at the half-time break – one of which being striker Nahki Wells, who came up with the game-winning moment in the 57th minute, netting his fourth goal of the second-tier term.
Following three-successive bottom-half finishes in the Championship, the Robins are hitting a patch of form at the perfect time as they attempt to achieve a top-12 placement in 2023-24, with Saturday’s visitors 12th in the league standings, two points ahead of Sunderland in 13th ahead of this weekend’s trip to the Stadium of Light.
In the absence of a talismanic figure at the top end of the field, Bristol City have shared the goalscoring responsibility around their ranks this term, with centre-back Rob Dickie having five league goals to his name, however it is striker Tommy Conway who leads the club’s Golden Boot race with seven Championship goals.
The Robins have collected four points from their last two league visits to the Stadium of Light, last winning at Sunderland in 2017, when goals from Bobby Decordova-Reid and Milan Djuric secured a 2-1 success over Simon Grayson‘s Black Cats.
