Sunderland are preparing for another important Championship match as they host Hull City tonight.
Sunderland dropped out of the play-off positions following their 2-1 defeat to Ipswich Town last time out, while they face making it three losses on the bounce if they roll over against The Tigers.
The Black Cats did claim a narrow victory at the MKM Stadium on Boxing Day and will be hoping to do the double, while Michael Beale could come under increasing pressure if he can’t secure his third win in seven games.
The former Rangers coach does have a number of injury problems to deal with, while he will have to make some decisions on whether to stick with the starting line-up that were beaten last weekend.
Here is our predicted XI…
Sunderland predicted XI vs Hull City
Anthony Patterson starts in between the sticks for the 28th time in the Championship this season. The goalkeeper keeps his place in the squad after recent rumours linking him with a move to Liverpool.
Dan Ballard and Luke O’Nien continue with their rather inconsistent partnership in the heart of defence.
Michael Beale confirmed that Aji Alese had suffered a knock in training, so we could well see him rested against Hull. This means Trai Hume could be pushed across to the left side of defence, while Timothee Pembele may make his first start for the club on the right.
The Frenchman has only made two cameo appearances for Sunderland this term, after spending the first three months of the campaign on the sidelines.
Pierre Ekwah and Dan Neil continue in the middle of the park, while Pritchard sits slightly further forward after being pushed into a more central role against Ipswich. The match comes days after the 30-year-old was the subject of interest from Birmingham City, MLS side Colorado Rapids and Turkish outfit Sivasspor, with the latter said to have made an official offer.
Jack Clarke will look to bag his 14th goal of the season, while Abdoullah Ba is lucky enough to keep his place on the right after claiming his first goal contribution since the win over Watford in October.
Jobe Bellingham is certainly due a rest after failing to impress for a while now, so I would hope he is dropped and makes way for Nazariy Rusyn. The Ukrainian was undeservedly benched against Ipswich, despite scoring his first goal in the previous league fixture.