On Sky
Sunderland are in front of the Sky Cameras this weekend as they travel to Selhurst Park to take on Crystal Palace.
Palace are still looking for their first points of the season as they try to settle to life in the Premier League. They did show signs of being able to cope in the first half of the game against Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium last week, but in the end they just ran out of steam and Stoke ended up coming from behind to win the game 2-1.
With Ian Holloway in charge of the club you have to be prepared to expect anything as he is just one of those characters, today with Paolo Di Canio in the same vicinity, it could be a barrel of laughs.
The two sides have not met since the 2006/07 season, when they played out a 0-0 draw in a Championship match at the Stadium of Light in January 2007. The Eagles won 1-0 in the corresponding fixture at Selhurst Park the previous December.
Vital Quotes:
Mark Lawrenson: ‘I can’t work Paolo Di Canio out – in fact I’ve stopped trying. Sunderland have signed so many players and we won’t know for a while whether they are good enough. I get a vibe from there that they are in for a real struggle.
‘He may prove me spectacularly wrong but I always worry when a manager talks about himself in the third person.’
Crystal Palace Team News:
Crystal Palace wingers Jerome Thomas (ankle) and Yannick Bolasie (hamstring) will miss the game.
Glenn Murray is another long term absentee, he will be out until out until November at the earliest.
Jason Puncheon is in line for his home debut, and veteran Kevin Phillips will be eager to play some part against his old club.
Crystal Palace (from): Speroni, Gabbidon, Moxey, Ward, Delaney, Gayle, Puncheon, Phillips, Dikgacoi, Jedinak, Gomez, Williams, Chamakh, Garvan, Ramage, Alexander, Wilbraham, Dobbie.
Player to watch: Marouane Chamakh
The 29 year old forward got his first goal of the campaign against Stoke last time out, he will be itching to get on the score sheet again.
Sunderland Team News:
Paolo Di Canio has left Stephane Sessegnon out of his squad, he is facing disciplinary action.
But there is good news in that Steven Fletcher is included in the squad, the sooner he gets back into top form the better.
Connor Wickham is hoping that he did enough in midweek to earn a start.
Sunderland (from): Westwood, Mannone, Celustka, Cuellar, O’Shea, Diakite, Roberge, Colback, Cabral, Gardner, Giaccherini, Johnson, Larsson, Ba, Karlsson, Vaughan, Mavrias, Altidore, Fletcher, Wickham, Ji.
Player to watch: Jozy Altidore
Opened his account now so he will be looking for more goals.
Match Facts & Stats
The two clubs are meeting in the Premier League for the very first time.
The Eagles have never lost a league game to Sunderland in the month of August
The Black Cats are winless in their last six Premier League games and have conceded in each game.
Sunderland scored just two headers in the league last season, yet their only Premier League goal so far this campaign was Emanuele Giaccherini’s header against Southampton.
Ref Watch:
Lee Probert is in charge, the assistants on Saturday will be R Ganfield and, M Scholes. The fourth official will be R East.
More details:CLICK HERE
Match Prediction:
Sunderland should win this game in my opinion and I think they can do it quite easily so I’m going for Palace 1- 3 Sunderland.
Next Fixtures:
Sat 21 Sep 2013 – West Brom away
Tue 24 Sep 2013 – Peterborough home
Sun 29 Sep 2013 – Liverpool home
