Middlesbrough blow as Carrick makes changes but no Sunderland surprises
THERE are no surprises in the Sunderland side for the Wear-Tees derby with Tony Mowbray naming an unchanged XI, but Michael Carrick has made two changes to his Middlesbrough team.
Boro were dealt a major blow ahead of the game with influential midfielder Riley McGree ruled out with a foot injury. He is replaced by Matt Crooks. Jonny Howson returns to the squad after missing the Cardiff game through illness, but the captain is on the bench, with Dan Barlaser keeping his place in midfield and partnering Hayden Hackney.
After missing the midweek win over Cardiff with a hamstring injury, Rav van den Berg returns to the side in place of Tommy Smith at right-back, with Lukas Engel retaining his place in the XI at left-back after his impressive midweek showing.
Paddy McNair and Dael Fry continue at centre-half.
Former Sunderland youngster Sam Greenwood keeps his place in the team, though might shift over to the left with Crooks coming into the XI. Josh Coburn continues up-front.
For Sunderland, Abdoullah Ba keeps his place in the team after impressing and scoring against Watford in the absence of Alex Pritchard.
Niall Huggins, Dan Ballard, Luke O’Nien and Trai Hume make up the defence, with Dan Neil and Jobe Bellingham in midfield. Ba lines up alongside Jack Clarke and Patrick Roberts in the forward positions behind striker Mason Burstow.
“Definitely got some good talent” – Sunderland fan pundit name-checks Middlesbrough trio to fear
The Black Cats face Boro in the Tees-Wear derby on Saturday afternoon
With five wins in their previous six matches, Sunderland are proving that their run to the Championship play-offs last season was no fluke – even without some of their star players.
It has been a case of no Amad Diallo, no problem for the Black Cats, who were unable to get the Ivorian attacker back on loan from Man United, but Tony Mowbray has been able to get by just fine without him.
A new set of talents were brought in over the summer months, mostly on a permanent basis, and everything just seems to be clicking for the Wearsiders currently, and there’s a feeling that they haven’t even gotten out of second gear yet in some matches.
Jack Clarke is of course the current star man with seven goals to his name in just 10 appearances, and his next target that he wants to score against is Middlesbrough.
Sunderland take on their North East rivals in a Tees-Wear derby clash on Saturday afternoon at 12:30pm, and it is an entirely different prospect to what it would have been a few weeks ago.
After six matches of the Championship campaign, Boro had still not won a match and had lost five of their first six fixtures.
A draw against fellow early strugglers Sheffield Wednesday has helped to turn the tide though, with Michael Carrick’s side winning their next three matches to start their climb up the table, with wins coming over Southampton, Watford and Cardiff City.
It has been a slow start for Carrick’s new-look side having lost talisman Chuba Akpom in August, but they now need to be feared by the rest of the division – Sunderland included.
Which Middlesbrough players should Sunderland be worried about facing?
Sunderland fans will be high on confidence heading into their North East derby clash, but despite their relatively poor start to the campaign, Boro still hold some threats.
And FLW’s Black Cats fan pundit Jack Austwicke believes that quite a few of Carrick’s squad need to be feared ahead of the lunchtime clash at the Stadium of Light.
“Truthfully if you asked me four weeks ago, I’d have said no-one – I wouldn’t have feared a player in their team, but obviously derby day is different,” Jack said when speaking to Football League World.
“I’ve seen the goal that Latte Lath (scored against Cardiff) – very, very fast striker, so he could cause us problems, Riley McGree has been getting on the scoresheet a lot and I like him as a midfielder as well, definitely a good player and he was good when we played them in January.
“Josh Coburn, I’m not sure if he will start but if he comes off the bench he’s a really good player who I’ve liked for a while now.
“They’ve definitely got some good talent in that team, of course they have dropped off but there was a reason they were fourth last year and that’s because they’ve still got some of them players in that squad.
“They’ve definitely got some danger men who could cause us a lot of problems so it should be an interesting game.”
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