Anthony Patterson has been heavily praised after he was named as Man of the Match during Sunderland’s defeat to Leicester City.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Keith Andrews hailed the Sunderland goalkeeper as their ‘saviour’ after a number of exceptional saves prevented Leicester City from running away with it.
The Black Cats visited the King Power Stadium in the Championship this evening in the hope that they could claim a result against Leicester, who have only dropped three points all season.
While the Foxes went ahead early on thanks to James Justin’s header from a corner, Sunderland were able to keep the scoreline at 1-0 and even had a number of their own chances that they could have tucked away.
However, Leicester will be frustrated that they didn’t score more, having hit the post twice and being kept out by an exceptional display from Anthony Patterson.
The 23-year-old made four superb saves and gave Sunderland a glimmer of hope that they could leave the Midlands with at least a point.
Having been named the Man of the Match, Andrews was quick to praise Sunderland’s ‘saviour’.
“Really impressing goalkeeping,” Andrews said, while watching Patterson’s saves back.
“Second half, Leicester are pushing forward and this should be put to bed. Catches it clean. But again, Patterson is the saviour and the oustanding player in a Sunderland shirt tonight. Kept them in it when these opportunities were coming. He was absolutely outstanding.”
How far can Anthony Patterson go?
Anthony Patterson was sensational tonight and proved exactly why Sunderland were so desperate to tie him down to a new deal, with the goalkeeper now one of the club’s highest-paid players.
The England U21 international has shown time and time again why he is one of the best shot-stoppers in the Championship, though his distribution lets him down. That is what stopped Patterson’s performance against Leicester from being faultless.
The ‘keeper sent it straight to the opposition on two occasions tonight, almost costing us a goal after such spectacular saves.
Patterson is clearly one of our most talented players and could certainly play for the England senior team one day, and if he can work on his distribution then he will be unstoppable.