Sunderland v Stoke City Preview
Sunderland host Stoke City this weekend at the Stadium of Light in what could be described as a must win game for the Black Cats. Although they’ve only lost one of their last eleven games, they’ve only picked up 18 points from a possible 33. If a serious promotion, or even potential title challenge is to be on the cards this season, Sunderland need to start turning draws into wins.
So far this season, Sunderland have played 18 games, winning nine of those, drawing six, and losing three. It’s been an impressive start for the club, who find themselves in 4th place with 33 points, especially after a finishing in a disappointing 16th last season. However, given the start they made, it’s easy to see why some may be disappointed with the current position and being five points adrift from leaders Sheffield United. The drop off comes after drawing five of their last six games (the other non-draw being the 1-0 defeat to Sheffield United), in which time Sunderland have only managed to score three goals.
Missing players hasn’t helped in this run of form, Jobe Bellingham missed three games after receiving a straight red card in the away draw to QPR. Dennis Cirkin, who has been one of, if not Sunderland’s player of the season so far, has missed the last three games after picking up a slight injury against Coventry, though he is expected to return on Saturday. But the biggest miss (from an attacking point of view at least) come from the absence of Romain Mundle. Mundle had been a real handful for opposition defenders before his injury, scoring four goals and provided two assists in his fifteen games and his game stats have been impressive to go alongside them, creating on average 1.57 big chances per game, 2.36 successful dribbles and averaging 4.37 touches in the opposition box. Sunderland will also be without another standout performer in Chris Mepham, who was sent off in the defeat to Sheffield United, though with the return of Ballard in recent weeks to go along side Cirkin, and the reliable and ever presents Luke O’Nien and Trai Hume, it shouldn’t have too much of an effect on the defensive display.
The main attacking threat for Sunderland now comes from Patrick Roberts. Roberts, who although is going through a bit of a poor run of form, has some very impressive numbers to his name this season. He creates on average 1.68 big chances per game, and 31 passes per game (with a 85.2% success rate). He also completes on average 1.47 dribbles per game and 4.34 touches in the opposition box.
Stoke sit 14th in the table with 21 points, winning five, drawing six, and losing seven. It’s familiar territory for them, who have struggled since being relegated to the Championship from The Premier League in 2018. Since then, the highest league finish Stoke have managed was 14th in the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons. Chances are that this year won’t be any different for the Potters, though they have made a significant improvement from their dreadful start to the season.
Steven Schumacher was in charge at the start of the season having been appointed last season. Stoke began strong enough with a 1-0 win at home to Coventry. This was followed up with back-to-back defeats to Watford away and West Brom at home. They would manage to beat Middlesbrough 5-0 in the league cup second round (making it through the first with a 2-0 home away win over Carlisle) before Schumacher got the better of his former club Plymouth with a 1-0 away from home. This would be the last time Schumacher would taste victory as Stoke manager as he was sacked just over two weeks later after a defeat away at Oxford. Ryan Shawcross would take over as interim manager for one game as stoke took on Fleetwood in the League Cup (managed by former Stoke player and teammate of Shawcross Charlie Adam) in a game that would end as a 1-1 draw (Stoke winning the tie-on penalties).
Then came the full-time replacement to Schumacher in Narcís Pèlach, who had previously worked as a coach at Huddersfield and Norwich. Stoke have steadied the sip somewhat under his reign, having only lost three of his twelve games in charge (all of which were against teams currently in the top six of the league table). He also managed the side to a 6-1 home win over newly promoted Portsmouth, in which loanee Tom Cannon bagged himself four goals.
Although they’ve only lost three of their last twelve, it probably doesn’t tell the whole story of their season. Stoke have the second highest expect goals against this season (30. and make the second most saves per game (3.. In fact, the best performing player for Stoke this season has been goalkeeper Viktor Johansson, averaging a match rating of 7.49, and picking up the player of the match award on four occasions this season.
Similar to Sunderland, Stoke tend to be happier to play without the ball, averaging 47.7% possession per game. They also have an identical record to the Black Cats in average shots on target per game, with 3.8. Stoke’s main attacking threat come from Joon-Ho Bae, who although he hasn’t scored this season, has five assists to his name and creates an average of 1.9 chances per game, to go along with 1.9 successful dribbles per game. The main goal threat from The Potters comes from Tom Cannon, who has seven goals in fourteen games this season (overachieving from his xG of 5.85). Though four of those goals came in the win over Portsmouth mentioned above, and three have been from the penalty spot. Unless he’s in front of goal, he doesn’t tend to offer much in build-up play either, averaging only 8.37 passes per game (with a success rate of just 65.2%), to go along with only averaging 24 touches per game, and just 3.75 in the opposition box.