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Sunderland head into their fixture with Blackpool on Tuesday evening looking to end a six-match winless run, with Lee Johnson undoubtedly hoping to all but secure a place in the League One play-offs with a victory for his side.

The Black Cats once again failed to secure a win against Accrington Stanley on Saturday and now face a tougher test on paper, with Blackpool fighting for a top six finish themselves.

However, a victory against Neil Critchley’s side on Tuesday would represent a huge step to securing a play-off place for Sunderland, so will Johnson make any changes from his starting XI last time out at the Stadium of Light?

Here’s our predicted XI, along with the latest team and injury news…

With Johnson having to deal with a significant number of injuries in his first team squad, the 39-year-old has some big decisions to make ahead of Tuesday evening’s CLASH. As a result, we’re expecting there to be two changes to the line-up from the game against Accrington Stanley three days ago.

The Sunderland manager will be without centre-back Dion Sanderson – who has been ruled out for the rest of the season – alongside fellow long-term absentees Jordan Willis and Arbenit Xhemajli, while Tom Flanagan and Conor McLaughlin have also been ruled out of contention for the match.

We expect there to be a change in the heart of the Sunderland defence, with 21-year-old Ollie Younger replacing Luke O’Nien. The 26-year-old has made a number of costly errors at centre-back in recent weeks, as well as averaging a WhoScored match rating of just 6.3 over his last four appearances in that role.

However, O’Nien does not drop out of the side altogether but instead replaces Carl Winchester in the middle of the park, with the 28-year-old moving to the bench.

The only other change sees 26-year-old Rangers loanee Jordan Jones come in alongside Charlie Wyke in the Sunderland attack, with Aiden O’Brien – who had a quiet game in the 3-3 draw with Accrington Stanley – making way.

In other news: £382,000 per goal: Sunderland simply must axe “humble” flop, he’s cost them for years – opinion

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, Marlon Harewood, who scored 45 goals for Nottingham Forest, has backed Chris Hughton to guide his former club to promotion next season.

Nottingham Forest have not been in the Premier League since 1999, but they have Hughton as manager who has experience taking both Brighton and Newcastle from the Championship into the top flight.

Hughton has been able to steer Forest away from the relegation zone as they currently sit 15th and a comfortable 10 points above the drop zone with just five games left to play.

Speaking on his hopes for Nottingham Forest next season and what Chris Hughton must do to get them back pushing for the playoffs like they were last season, Harewood told FFC:

“I would love for Chris to take Forest up because they need to be back there and I think next season is their time.

“After what they’ve been through this year I think they just need to rebuild and try to get back to where they used to be.”

Forest’s problem this season has been in the final third as only Derby County, Birmingham City and Wycombe Wanderers have scored fewer than the 34 they have managed.

Next season will be a different one for Hughton as the club will lose the six players they currently have on loan, which will force a squad overhaul in the summer.

South Africa manager Eddie Ntseki has confirmed the Bafana Bafana will be without Glasgow Rangers midfielder Bongani Zungu for their African Cup of Nations qualifier against Sudan on Sunday.

Zungu unavailable

Zungu had already been ruled out of South Africa’s clash with Ghana in his homeland after Rangers refused to let him travel there, but it seemed he would be available for the Sudan match (Sowetan Live).

Now, though, Ntseki has revealed he will also be unavailable for that game too. He said (via The South African):

“We got an email from Zungu’s club to say they are no longer releasing him – whether it’s coming to South Africa or going to Sudan.

“I then spoke to him and explained the situation, and he said, ‘It’s a decision that will work against me if ever I force to come to Sudan.’

“We saw a new list of countries that are being referred to as ‘red zones’, and in this case we have Dubai and Ethiopia, which is where players were going to have to come via to get to Sudan.”

Disappointing

This is no doubt a huge disappointment for both Ntseki and Zungu – the former has already shared his frustration at not having Zungu for the Ghana fixture. In 2021, the 28-year-old has played just 112 minutes in the Premiership (Transfermarkt) and is clearly not a big part of Steven Gerrard’s plans. The international break should have given him an opportunity to get some much needed playing time, but that will now not be the case.

Unfortunately, this is becoming a more and more regular occurrence given the coronavirus pandemic we are currently living through. Zungu will just have to hope that, with the Premiership title already sewn up at Ibrox, he may now get more chances to play at club level.

In other news, Rangers fans are livid at an update on this 34-year-old.

Over the last few years, Sunderland has been a rotten football club to support. They have suffered relegation twice and promotion feels like a distant dream.

Under the ownership of Stewart Donald, things went pear-shaped. They were spending vast sums of money that the club couldn’t afford and they’d become one of the laughing stocks of the EFL.

However, in 2021, there is a very different feel to the Mackems. They have won their first silverware for 48 years and after defeating Accrington 2-0 on Wednesday evening, they are now third in the table.

Lee Johnson has engineered an incredible run with the Black Cats winning seven of their last eight matches in the league.

It feels like now or never in terms of promotion and they’re building up ahead of steam at just the right time. Their win at Accrington was scrappy but they managed to get the job done as goals from Charlie Wyke and Ross Stewart sealed the points.

After their EFL Trophy final last weekend, Johnson made changes, one of which saw Jack Diamond come into the XI.

He has been one of the real winners of the new manager’s time at the Stadium of Light so far. When he came into the team properly in December, he offered something that Sunderland didn’t have; the ability to stretch opponents and get in behind.

Indeed, we saw that when he was introduced late on at Wembley on Sunday. He got the Black Cats up the pitch with his raw pace and frantic energy.

Unfortunately, he was rather disappointing against Accrington in midweek, being hauled off at half time after a very dismal opening 45 minutes.

The bitty nature of the game didn’t suit Diamond at all, and as a result, he struggled significantly to get into proceedings.

He departed the field having had just 18 touches of the ball, a number that would ultimately fall below goalkeeper Lee Burge’s tally for the evening. From those touches, he conceded possession on nine occasions, leading to a forgetful night for the youngster.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-sunderland-news-and-gossip” title=” Latest Sunderland news and gossip!”]

Strikingly, Diamond made just three passes in the entire time he was on the pitch. That is a shocking tally, one that was easily the worst of any Sunderland player to start the game.

It was telling, therefore, than his substitute scored the opening goal of the game. Diamond was replaced by Stewart at the break and the Scot popped up with a crucial debut goal.

The former has made great strides since breaking into the Mackems’ first-team but with their new signing now back from injury and immediately in the goals, he’ll need to keep a close eye over his shoulder.

Diamond will undoubtedly have better nights than this; he’ll just have to eradicate this one quickly from his mind.

AND in other news, SAFC must seal swoop for 26 y/o gem with “pace to burn”, Phillips says he’s a “threat”…

The games are coming thick and fast for Swansea City in the Championship at the moment, and Steve Cooper’s side are still in with a good chance of securing an automatic promotion spot this season, as they look to seal a return to the top-flight.

The Swans are currently just one point behind second-placed Watford, with two games in hand on the Hornets, and have the opportunity to overtake them when they face Blackburn Rovers on Tuesday evening.

Two goals from Andre Ayew, including another late penalty, secured the points against Middlesbrough last time out, although it wasn’t a top performance from the Swans.

A poor run of form has seen Tony Mowbray’s side drop down the table after they were pushing for a playoff spot earlier in the season, so Swansea should be looking to pick up maximum points when they make the trip to Ewood Park.

Here’s how Football FanCast expects Cooper to line his side up against Blackburn, with two changes from the side that started against Middlesbrough…

There’s one change in the defence from Cooper, as although Ryan Manning has done a decent job filling in at left wing-back recently, Jake Bidwell is perhaps likely to come back in for this one, especially after he won the late penalty as a substitute against Neil Warnock’s side.

The rest of the defence stays the same, although the Swans haven’t looked anywhere near as secure as they did earlier in the season, shipping nine goals in their last five games.

After deploying two attacking-midfielders against Middlesbrough, perhaps we will see Cooper revert to a 5-3-2 formation for this away trip, with Connor Hourihane dropping back into midfield alongside Jay Fulton and Matt Grimes.

This sees Korey Smith drop out, with Jamal Lowe restored to the lineup in the hope that he can rediscover his shooting boots at Ewood Park.

MatériaMais Notícias

O Corinthians pode selar sua classificação para as quartas de final do Campeonato Paulista nesta quinta-feira, caso o Água Santa perca ou empate com o Novorizontino, fora de casa, pela 11ª rodada do Campeonato Paulista. O time do técnico Tite tem 26 pontos somados até o momento, dez a mais que o vice-líder Red Bull Brasil e 14 à frente do Água Santa, o terceiro colocado do Grupo D. Assim, a equipe de Diadema precisa vencer seu compromisso para que o Corinthians adie em mais uma rodada sua vaga antecipada no mata-mata do Estadual.

Apesar da equipe estar praticamente classificada, o técnico Tite não espera perda de ritmo nos quatro jogos finais da primeira fase do Paulistão. Contra Ituano, neste sábado, na Arena Corinthians, Ponte Preta, Palmeiras e Grêmio Osasco Audax, o comandante deseja que sua equipe mantenha o nível de competitividade que o fez ser líder da classificação geral do Campeonato Paulista neste momento.

-Vou pilhar, encher o saco, cobrar, incentivar, reconhecer. A gente não pode soltar agora e pegar confiança a hora que quiser, a vida não é assim, o futebol não é assim. Se classificar é bom, mas não pode relaxar – afirmou Tite, que ainda citou um exemplo antigo para embasar seu posicionamento.

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-Quando eu relaxei num Gre-Nal que ganhava de 1 a 0 foi que aprendi. Entrei no vestiário podendo vencer de 3 ou 4, mas esperei a substituição do meu adversário porque já estava encaminhada a vitória. No segundo tempo tomamos a virada e eu jurei que nunca mais ia baixar a guarda para nada.

Com 26 gols marcados em 15 jogos da temporada, o Corinthians é líder do Grupo D do Paulistão e também do Grupo 8 da Copa Libertadores, torneio em que volta a atuar apenas no dia 6 de abril, fora de casa.

Many Everton fans are not impressed after reports suggested the Toffees were edging closer to signing Bournemouth striker Josh King. 

Football Insider revealed that the Toffees had a bid accepted for the 29-year-old in the region of £5-6m ahead of Monday’s 11pm deadline.

King has had a tough time in the Championship with the Cherries, having failed to get on the scoresheet from 12 appearances, only scoring in the FA Cup (Whoscored).

Despite this, the Norway international had great success while playing in the Premier League. His best season came during the 2016/17 campaign, scoring 16 goals from 31 starts and averaging 1.9 shots per game.

Supporters could not see the positive side to Everton’s transfer pursuit though and struggled to bypass the fact that King has no goals this season – making their feelings clear after @DavidDownie17 shared his thoughts on Twitter.

Fans react to possible King signing

“Just so uninspiring isn’t it?? I mean the only good thing is I’m not expecting much so if he’s half-decent its a bonus. Just hope its no more than a 2-year deal.”

Credit: @lukeWilko1878

“Not for me, similar to a signing we would make years ago pre Ancelotti. Can’t even get in Bournemouth side; if we sign him will get behind him but underwhelming.”

Credit: @JPG__78

“The last-minute nature to it smacks of utter desperation, no one else is available so now turning to a player who probably wasn’t top of the list.”

Credit: @toffeedoug

“Pointless move, getting rid of one liability off the wage book to sign another. He’s nowhere near good enough.”

Credit: @MikeH1878

“A lot less experienced than Tosun. Struggles to score in the Championship. Seems like a waste of time and money to me.”

Credit: @shaynehele02

“Panic & desperation come to mind”

Credit: @royalbluedas

In other news, Everton’s bid to save £6.2m-per-year collapses at 11th hour.

Many Liverpool fans believe that Taiwo Awoniyi is not the right man to replace Divock Origi if the Belgian decides to leave.

The 23-year-old is currently on loan from at FC Union Berlin over in Germany, where he is certainly catching the eye.

From 13 Bundesliga appearances, Awoniyi has scored five goals and provided two assists, getting regular first-team football under his belt in a competitive league (TransferMarkt).

The Nigerian centre-forward has had an array of loan spells since arriving at the club in 2015, spending time at the likes of FSV Frankfurt, NEC Nijmegen, Mouscron, KAA Gent, and Mainz last season. In total, he has scored 38 times from over 100 outings combined.

Awoniyi has never made a first-team appearance for Liverpool. With speculation surrounding Divock Origi’s future still unclear, Anfield Edition presented the facts for supporters to stick their teeth into.

Despite this, supporters were convinced that Awoniyi is not good enough to play for the club, and that his Belgian teammate is a better player.

Fans not convinced by Awoniyi

“I’ve watched him and can say with confidence that he’s not good enough. Not even close to Origi. The best that could happen is we get a nice offer for him”

Credit: @SilverDeGeneral

“He won’t ever be a Liverpool player due to being one for 5 years now and never getting a permit. I give up on him”

Credit: @LfcRedLady

“Has done nothing for years now so would be the perfect time to sell him while his stocks are up”

Credit: @bugyutari

“No, we need to sign someone with world-class potential.”

Credit: @Subindra99

“He is not good enough for Liverpool, I think Liverpool should sell him for good price”

Credit: @Elflew59

“No will be sold”

Credit: @pete_pizza2020

“Sell him Edwards!”

Credit: @noma

In other news, Fabrizio Romano provided an intriguing update on Georginio Wijnaldum’s Anfield future.

Marcel Brands risks following Steve Walsh in signing unneeded players for Everton with a summer move for Granada goalkeeper Rui Silva currently being touted.

What’s the word?

According to Mundo Deportivo, the Toffees are showing a determination to acquire Silva at the end of the season when his £2,700-per-week contract is due to expire.

Sevilla, Valencia and Real Betis have been considering moves for the Portuguese shot-stopper, who Granada are yet to rule out offering a new contract to, despite him having one foot out the door since last summer and him rejecting new terms already.

Betis had sought to sign Silva in January after failing to complete a deal in the off-season, with Granada rejecting the Benito Villamarin Stadium natives’ offer of just over €4m (£3.5m) as Director of Football Fran Sanchez pushed for the 26-year-old’s €15m (£13.5m) release clause to be met in full.

Silva, who his Granada teammate Aaron Escandell lauds for playing at a “top level”, is now able to agree pre-contract arrangements with any side of his choosing ahead of becoming a free agent in the summer.

Caution advised

Mundo Deportivo describes Silva as one of the best goalkeepers in Spanish football over the past year and a half, but caution must be advised as there are a smattering of key flaws to the former U21 international’s game.

No ‘keeper has allowed a higher number goals to be scored in La Liga fixtures from shots taken inside the penalty area than Silva has over the opening 17 games of the season, with the Portuguese titan allowing 18 in 14 appearances despite keeping five clean sheets, per SofaScore.

He allows a goal to be scored inside the box with almost every other shot faced, in fact, with Silva recording 22 saves to date, while also rarely leaving his line to collect the ball with just one punch, four high claims and four successful runs out to his name.

Silva’s pass accuracy is additionally the 11th-worst by a goalkeeper in Spain’s top-flight at 55.76%, which drops to 39.18% for long balls, areas where Jordan Pickford’s current understudy, Robin Olsen, excels with a 64.58% pass accuracy rating and 45.16% for long balls.

With Carlo Ancelotti also keen to retain Olsen beyond his season-long loan deal, it would be very questionable for Brands to acquire Silva at the end of the campaign, unless he expects to offload either Pickford or 21-year-old prospect Joao Virginia.

But retaining both and signing Silva alongside Olsen would only serve to see the Dutchman repeat the Walsh blunder of acquiring Maarten Stekelenburg, who went three seasons without playing a single minute in the Premier League before his departure last year.

AND in other news: Marcel Brands must axe a total dud costing Everton £600k-a-game.

MatériaMais Notícias

A bola vai rolar pelo Campeonato Gaúcho de 2016. Neste sábado, dois jogos – Juventude e São Paulo-RS e Glória e Veranópolis – abrem a 96ª edição do estadual, que, neste ano, contará com a participação de 14 clubes.Na primeira fase, todos os times se enfrentam e os oito melhores colocados avançam para as quartas de final.

O Intenacional, que vai buscar o sexto título consecutivo, e o Grêmio, que dividirá as atenções com a Copa Libertadores, entraram campo no domingo. Para esquentar o Campeonato Gaúcho, o LANCE! avalia como foi a preparação da dupla Gre-Nal para este início de temporada.

INTERNACIONAL

Campeão das últimas cinco edições do Estadual, o Internacional tem poucas mudanças entre os titulares que terminaram o ano de 2015 em alta. Indicado pelo técnico Argel Fucks, Fernando Bob é o único reforço trazido para 2016 que começará a temporada como titular. O volante tem feito a saída de bola da equipe e atua no meio-campo ao lado de Rodrigo Dourado, Anderson e D’Alessandro.

No dia 4 de janeiro, o elenco do Internacional iniciou a pré-temporada, que teve como destaque a excursão para os Estados Unidos. A delegação do Colorado passsou 11 dias em Orlando, onde participou da Florida Cup. No torneio, o time de Argel Fucks empatou em 3 a 3 com o Bayer Leverkusen (ALE) e venceu por 1 a 0 o Fluminense. Na última quarta-feira, estreou na Primeira Liga com um empate sem gols contra o Coritiba, no Beira-Rio.

Time-base: Alisson; William, Paulão, Réver e Artur; Fernando Bob, Rodrigo Dourado, Anderson e D’Alessandro: Vitinho e Eduardo Sasha. – Técnico: Argel Fucks.
Reforços para 2016: Fernando Bob, Fabinho, Paulo Cézar Magalhães e Marquinhos.

GRÊMIO

Após a ótima campanha no Brasileirão de 2015, o Grêmio de Roger Machado inicia a temporada pressionado pela conquista de um título. Com cinco competições a disputar no ano – Gauchão, Primeira Liga, Libertadores, Copa do Brasil e Brasileiro -, o Tricolor Gaúcho dividirá atenções neste primeiro semestre, mas deve atuar com força máxima no Estadual, que não conquista desde 2010.

Diferentemente do rival, o Grêmio optou por realizar uma pré-temporada “caseira”. O elenco se reapresentou no CT Luiz Carvalho, em Porto Alegre, no dia 6 de janeiro. Com três reforços para 2016 – Wallace Oliveira, Kadu e Fred -, o time tem como novidade a confirmação de Everton entre os titulares. A equipe principal de Roger Machado fez dois amistosos na preparação para 2016: empate em 1 a 1 com o Danubio, do Uruguai, e vitória por 3 a 0 sobre o Sindicato dos Atletas.

PARA FICAR DE OLHO

Desde 2000, quando o Caxias conquistou o Gauchão, nenhum clube do interior do Rio Grande do Sul conseguiu tirar a taça de Grêmio ou Inter. Em 2016, quem pode surpreender é o Brasil de Pelotas. Na última temporada, o Xavante conseguiu o acesso para a Série B do Brasileiro e, assim como em 2014, foi o terceiro lugar no Gauchão, conquistando o título do interior.

Sob o comando do técnico Rogério Zimmermann desde 2012, o Brasil tem como destaque o goleiro Eduardo Martini, o meia Diogo Oliveira e o centroavante Nena.

A pré-temporada Xavante começou no dia 8 de dezembro de 2015. Desde então, Zimmermann comandou o time em três testes: triunfo por 2 a 1 sobre o Sindicato de Atletas, empate em 1 a 1 com o Cruzeiro-RS e vitória de 1 a 0 sobre o São Paulo-RS. Mesmo assim, a diretoria do clube afirma que o time entra no Estadual para o rebaixamento.

Time-base: Marcelo Grohe; Wallace Oliveira, Pedro Geromel, Kadu e Marcelo Oliveira; Walace, Maicon, Giuliano, Douglas e Everton; Luan. – Técnico: Roger Machado.
Reforços para 2016: Wallace Oliveira, Kadu e Fred.

Confira abaixo todos os jogos da 1ª rodada do Campeonato Gaúcho:

Sábado – 30/01
– Juventude x São Paulo-RS – Alfredo Jaconi, às 18h
-Glória x Veranópolis – Castanheiras, às 18h

Domingo – 31/01
-Brasil de Pelotas x Grêmio – Centenário, às 17h
– Novo Hamburgo x Cruzeiro-RS – Estádio do Vale, às 18h
-Passo Fundo x São José – Vermelhão da Serra, às 18h
-Aimoré x Lajeadense – Cristo Rei, às 18h
-Internacional x Ypiranga – Beira-Rio, às 19h30