Sunderland will attempt to banish their recent south-coast blues when they travel to Southampton on Wednesday evening in the EFL Cup.
The Black Cats have been within touching distance of victory on each of their last two trips to St Mary’s, but Saints have shattered Wearside hearts with late strikes on both occasions.
It was a familiar story on Saturday as West Ham United secured a stoppage-time win at the London Stadium, but the Black Cats refused to be downbeat post-match and they are raring to go with a place in the quarter finals up for grabs.
Southampton, meanwhile, battled to a point at the Etihad Stadium as Claude Puel’s side made it five without a win for Manchester City.
And the home side will provide a tough test for the Black Cats having tasted defeat just once in their last nine games.
That run includes a third-round win over Crystal Palace with Saints making light work of their Premier League counterparts, but the Black Cats have also impressed in the EFL Cup with Paddy McNair stealing the show at Queens Park Rangers in the club’s last outing.
Adnan Januzaj was Sunderland’s hero in their first outing – a 1-0 win over Shrewsbury Town – but the Belgian remains sidelined and will miss the trip to St Mary’s.
International team-mate Jason Denayer will also be absent, with Vito Mannone, Jan Kirchhoff, Lee Cattermole, Seb Larsson and Fabio Borini also unavailable.
Southampton also have a number of injury concerns with Ryan Bertrand, Matt Targett, Cedric Soares and Shane Long expected to miss out.
OTHER INFO
Ticket information for Wednesday’s cup tie is available by clicking here.
If you can’t make the game, then don’t fear because we have every base covered with extensive coverage on safc.com and on Twitter by following @SunderlandAFC.
Nick Barnes and Gary Bennett will also be LIVE on safc.com from around 6.45pm.
