Sunderland continued their relentless march towards promotion with a crucial win over Middlesbrough on Monday, so will Regis Le Bris change his winning formula for the visit of Watford?
It took a late own goal to seal all three points for Sunderland against their local rivals this week, but from front to back, Regis Le Bris’ side dominated the game and showed their quality.
It was Enzo Le Fee who shined the brightest, though, with the Frenchman running the show from out wide, creating chances and terrorising the Middlesbrough defence.
The problem for Le Bris now is, does he stick or twist? With things going so well, the Sunderland manager may be tempted to leave his team unchanged, so here’s our predicted XI for the weekend.
Sunderland team and injury news ahead of Watford clash
Sunderland have been flying high all season, and the scary thing is, they’ve still got key players left to come back from injury.
Tommy Watson almost left the club on transfer deadline day, but he’s staying on Wearside and should be back to training in the next week or so. The Watford game will come too soon for him, and the same applies for Romaine Mundle, too.
However, Ian Poveda appears to be over his injury woes, and got more minutes under his belt on Monday night. We should see Alan Browne and Jenson Seelt follow in his footsteps soon, so don’t be surprised to see the pair on the bench this weekend.
Sunderland predicted XI vs Watford sees Enzo Le Fee role tweaked
Truth be told, there is very little reason for Le Bris to change his lineup from the one that started the game against Middlesbrough. But, we do believe we may see one personnel change and a slight tweak to one player’s role.
Defensively, things will remain as they were, with Anthony Patterson obviously in goal, and a back four of Trai Hume, Chris Mepham, Luke O’Nien, and Dennis Cirkin. While Dan Ballard is now fit again, it’s hard to see him breaking into the team at the moment.
Fans were treated to a scintillating performance from Enzo Le Fee against Middlesbrough, but they now want Le Bris to play him in a central role rather than ‘wasting’ him out on the left.
For that to happen, someone will have to come out of the starting lineup, and the obvious candidate for this is Chris Rigg. The teenager has looked a little leggy of late, and will need to be used sparingly over the next few weeks.
This allows Le Fee to play in the number 10 role that fans have been crying out for, and also means Eliezer Mayenda can return to the starting lineup, albeit in a wider role out on the left.