Match Preview – Sunderland v West Brom

By: Stephen | December 12th, 2008

So there’s a first time for everything. This is my first match preview, or a preview for any game, since I’ve been writing. A brave new world for me. I could have picked an easier match to preview though.

Did you know that West Brom runs out to – Insomnia by Faithless ?
Maybe they do that as a public service, because their play puts people to sleep.

I do think that we will win this game, but it’s going to be a very boring game. West Brom are sitting at the bottom of the table, and probably will go back down to the Championship. Ishmael Miller, West Brom’s best striker is out for the season, and by all accounts it looks like Tony Mowbry will go with a negative 4-5-1. It seems like West Brom will have a hard time to score this match. Kind of like their form all year.

At the weekly press conference Ricky Sbragia had a lot of things to say about this match.

“It’s a game we can’t afford to lose,” said Sbragia, “We have to take the game to them and make sure we don’t get caught with a sucker-punch.” Which is so true, the Black Cats need this match to make progress in getting out of the relegation zone. The pressure is definitely on them to win.

“It’ll be difficult and we need the crowd right behind us, more so now than for a while,” he said. “We’re going to make mistakes, but we don’t plan for it and the fans can help by backing us all the way.” The fact that fans boo their own team, is just wrong. You are a supporter, support your team. You may not like what is happening, but the players need you out there. GET IN FULL POSITIVE VOICE!

Ok enough with the talk, you want to hear my prediction? (of course, I don’t recommend gambling, and sometimes predictions can go wrong).

Sunderland 2-0 West Brom.

Cisse 21 minutes in
Richardson 47 minutes in

Sunderland (from): Fulop, Colgan, Chimbonda, Bardsley, Nosworthy, Collins, Ferdinand Tainio, Whitehead, Edwards, Malbranque, Richardson, Leadbitter, Yorke, Reid, Diouf, Miller, Cisse, Murphy, Jones, Healy.