Sunderland will look to put Tuesday’s result behind us on Saturday as we seek three points at the Stadium of Light against Shrewsbury Town (3pm).
The Lads suffered defeat at the hands of Plymouth Argyle on Tuesday night, and will look to make amends this weekend against a Shrews side who were beaten 2-0 by Southampton in their last outing, an Emirates FA Cup third round tie.
Form Guide
Lee Johnson’s side endured our first league loss in six on Tuesday, leaving us ninth in the League One table. Steve Cotterill’s visitors have been one of the division’s form teams of late, with an unbeaten run of eight league matches lifting the club out of the drop zone and into 17th. Along the way the Shrews have claimed the scalps of three of the current top four, all away from home by a 1-0 scoreline.
Last five meetings
October 2019: Shrewsbury 1-0 Sunderland (Cummings)
December 2018: Sunderland 1-1 Shrewsbury (Maja; Waterfall)
October 2018: Shrewsbury 0-2 Sunderland (Beckles og, O’Nien)
August 2016: Sunderland 1-0 Shrewsbury (Januzaj) [League Cup]
April 1989: Sunderland 2-1 Shrewsbury (Hauser, Armstrong; McGinlay)
Opposition
Having suffered a difficult start to the season, Shrewsbury Town have made significant progress and despite being hit hard by a Covid-19 outbreak, the Shropshire side are unbeaten in eight league games. The team did exit the FA Cup on Tuesday night, beaten 2-0 at Premier League Southampton, but there are plenty of reasons for hope at Montgomery Waters Meadow.
Players such as Leon Clarke, Charlie Daniels and Matthew Pennington have been brought in this season, whilst Omar Beckles, Romain Vincelot and Josh Laurent were among those to depart.
Shrewsbury manager Steve Cotterill will not be in attendance at the Stadium of Light, as he recuperates from a spell in hospital with Covid-19. Everyone at Sunderland AFC wishes Steve all the very best towards a speedy recovery.
The pre-match talk
Lee Johnson said in his pre-match press conference that the mentality of his squad must be bold, and not one of fear; the Head Coach also gave his best regards to his counterpart Cotterill.
“We must be bold and brave in our execution, and to an extent we have done that – we have scored goals, but in some games our conversion rate needs to be better. We need to play with cohesion, understanding, and improve our quality.
“I think this is a really tough game for us – Steve is someone who has won the division before and has made changes, and they’ve got good players.
“They had players still missing when they faced Southampton in midweek and still put in a good performance, so it will be a difficult one. We all give our well wishes to Steve – someone I know relatively well.”
Shrews captain David Edwards has previewed the match on the visitors’ official website, and claims he and his teammates have built a lot of nous in the system they play, which has proven successful through recent results.
“Sunderland are a huge side for League One, but there is no reason why we can’t go there and get a positive result,” the midfielder told shrewsburytown.com.
“We know they are going to start fast, being the home team. There will be pressure on them to come and attack us. We have to be ready for that and put our own stamp on the game.
“We are very well-drilled now on the formation we play, and we always find little ways in preparation for games of ways to hurt the opposition. They have good players and play some good football, but we are ready for that.”
Around the grounds
There are scheduled to be a total of nine matches in Sky Bet League One on Saturday afternoon, with Lincoln City hosting Northampton Town and Hull City heading to Portsmouth in two crucial clashes at the top. Ipswich Town take on Peterborough United at Portman Road, with Swindon Town making the trip to Charlton Athletic.
How to watch
To purchase a streaming pass as Sunderland host Shrewsbury Town, click here and follow the instructions.
There will be usual match coverage on safc.com via the SAFC Matchday Centre, with social media updates taking place on Twitter @SunderlandAFC, and Instagram @sunderlandafcofficial.