Jack Clarke and Abdoullah Ba have been included in the Championship’s Team of the Week.
The Championship posted their starting XI yesterday following Sunderland’s dramatic win against QPR.
The Black Cats made it four games unbeaten as they claimed all three points in the English capital.
Tony Mowbray’s side found themselves behind inside 15 minutes against the run of play and their performance seemed to suffer from Jack Colback’s red card shortly after.
However, they improved in the second half and goals from Clarke, Ba and Daniel Ballard secured the victory as they moved up to seventh place in the Championship.
Clarke is no stranger to being named in the Team of the Week and was named on the XI after WhoScored’s rating placed him as the Man of the Match at Loftus Road.
The winger made the joint-most key passes (4), completed the most dribbles (4) and also made it three goals in six league games for Sunderland this season.
Meanwhile, Ba’s 8.1 rating also earned him a place in the Team of the Week.
The Frenchman has got off to a brilliant start to the campaign after adopting a new position on the wing. Ba has taken advantage of his opportunity to replace the injured Patrick Roberts and netted his second goal for the club against QPR.
The 20-year-old had three shots on target, 82% pass accuracy and made one key pass.
The Sunderland pair join Ilan Meslier, Joel Piroe and Georginio Rutter (Leeds United), Cameron Burgess and Conor Chaplin (Ipswich Town), Josh Koroma and Sorba Thomas (Huddersfield Town), Kal Naismith (Bristol City) and Sammie Szmodics (Blackburn Rovers).
Abdoullah Ba looks very exciting for Sunderland
Jack Clarke is proving exactly why Sunderland didn’t sell him to Burnley for buttons this summer, but his brilliant form comes as no surprise after last season.
What is more of a shock to fans is Abdoullah Ba. The youngster featured as a central midfielder following his move from Le Havre last year, though he struggled to quite break onto the scene like he had hoped.
However, Ba was moved onto the wing this time round and has been brilliant over the past two games.
There is a lot of hope for the France youth international, though Mowbray needs to figure out a way to get Patrick Roberts in the team as well. The 26-year-old is one of the club’s most talented and skilful players and the side’s goal threat always declines in his absence.
It is great for Mowbray to have such a selection dilemma, though it will definitely be hard to keep everyone happy – especially given Roberts’ links to Southampton a couple of weeks ago.