Match Preview: Sunderland v Nottingham Forest — Welcome To Sunderland!

**The build-up…**

We knew the possible prizes on offer if we had won at Villa Park last Sunday, and just as the game was looking to be fizzling out into a frustrating defeat, the Lads got it back on level terms to look good for a point, then threatened to take all three, and then came away with nowt. We didn’t quite know what to make of it after the final whistle, but one thing was clear, and that was that these lads are up for the fight to squeeze everything out of this season. If we’d taken maximum points from Villa Park, that would have been not only our third consecutive win, but it would have been our third straight win on the road, which would have been the first time this season that either of those two things had happened. To say that at this stage of the season, when the inevitable questioning of the players’ intentions in the run-in is put forward, once again shows the character of this group of players we currently have at the club. It also nods at a more positive style of play. It’s maybe just a coincidence, but Sunderland increased our away goal tally by ~33% at Villa Park, and almost half of our away goals all season have been scored in the last three games away from the Stadium of Light. But we are back on home soil, and last time out we stopped the run of defeats at the Stadium of Light against Spurs, and it’s still only the top two who have conceded fewer in their own backyard this season, and in sixteen games so far, only three have scored more than once against us at home. We lost against Forest when they last visited Wearside back in 2017, but before that, we have to go back to when Stan Collymore ran the show at Roker Park in 1993 to find when they last took maximum points from us at our place.

**The betting…**

The bookies have the Lads at 17/10 to win the game. Forest are 8/5 to take all three points, and the draw is 21/10.

**Head to head…**at Sunderland

***(All competitions)***

• ***Sunderland wins:*** **26**
• ***Draws:*** **13**
• ***************************Forest************************ wins:*** **10**
• ***Sunderland goals:*** **85**
• *********************Forest****************** goals:*** **45**

**Last time we met…**at the Stadium of Light

***Tuesday 12th September 2017***

Championship

***Sunderland*** 0-1 Nottingham Forest

**[Murphy 86’]**

***Sunderland:** Ruiter, Matthews, Wilson, Browning, Oviedo, McManaman (Gooch), Cattermole (Jones), Ndong, Honeyman, Williams, Grabban* *(Vaughan)* ***Substitutes not used:** Steele, Love, Gibson, Rodwell*

***Nottingham Forest:** Smith, Darikwa, Traore, Bridcutt, Worrall, Mills, Diaz (Cummings), Bouchalakis (McKay), Murphy, Dowell (Clough), Osborn* ***Substitutes not used:** Henderson, Jichaj, Fox, Carayol*

***Attendance:** 26*,061

***Prediction…***

Sunderland 1-0 Nottingham Forest

Got a feeling it might be a bit like the Spurs game. Forest need to get over the line, and there’s pressure on every chance they have at the moment. So, I reckon we’ll shut them out and nick one.