We’re under no illusions that Sunderland are going to face some incredibly tough tests this season in the Premier League, and there aren’t many tests tougher than going away to Selhurst Park to take on Crystal Palace — the current FA Cup and Community Shield holders, who are also unbeaten in their last nine Premier League outings.
This is such a strange game to try and figure out, though, because the international break throws up many challenges, Palace have some injuries to key players, and at this
stage of the season not even Sunderland fans really know what version of our team are going to show up, and what most of these lads are capable of.
The Opposition
Crystal Palace are what I’d like to call a ‘proper club’, and I’m not sure there are too many of those left at the top of the game anymore. Deeply rooted at the heart of their community, The Eagles are going from strength to strength under the management of the hugely-impressive Oliver Glasner, who is clearly a fantastic coach destined for one of the top jobs in Europe if he can manage to maintain the trajectory that he’s on. He won the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022 and then followed that up at the end of last season and over the summer by guiding Crystal Palace to their first ever trophy, beating Manchester City in the FA Cup final in May before following that up with a win over Liverpool in this season’s Community Shield at Wembley.
For Palace, to be winning trophies and playing in Europe is a massive achievement, and they’re definitely a club that we at Sunderland could aspire to be like in the near future if we continue to do all the right things on and off the pitch. Where Palace have excelled in recent years is with their recruitment, particularly of players coming up from the EFL. Eberechi Eze left for Arsenal last month, but he developed into a world-class attacking midfielder at Selhurst Park, and before him they had Michael Olise who has gone right to the top of the game with Bayern Munich and the French national team. The next in line is Adam Wharton, a pick up from Blackburn a couple of seasons ago, but thankfully for Sunderland he’s missing today’s game through injury.
Wharton isn’t the only player who will miss out today, as Eddie Nketiah and Ismaila Sarr also aren’t expected to feature, and that can only be a good thing for Sunderland as all three are quality operators at this level.
Then there’s the whole Marc Guehi situation, which almost came to a close on deadline day with a move to Liverpool that was vetoed at the last minute by Palace after they failed to sign a replacement in time. Guehi is often talked about as a consummate professional, but you can’t help but wonder how much of an effect that whole situation has had on him mentally. Will he be fully focused on this game? I guess we’ll find out soon.
That all said, even without the aforementioned players available, this is still an unbelievable Palace side that is full of big, strong, energetic footballers that will work hard and show their quality in key moments. They are unbeaten for a reason and we cannot just expect to turn up and get a result — if we are going to get anything, you can guarantee that we’ll be made to work incredibly hard for it.
How Are Sunderland Shaping Up?
Pretty well, all things considered.
Aye, the international break has been an irritation, but it was nowt more than that and despite tonnes of players jetting off all over the place to represent their countries – I think Régis Le Bris said he was working with a squad of 7 or 8 – nobody came back injured, so that’s a plus.
The gaffer gave an update on Sunderland’s walking wounded during his press conference on Thursday, and whilst none of them are expected to be fit enough to feature today, many of them aren’t too far off.
Dan Ballard should be back for the Villa game, and Luke O’Nien might be ready by then too. Romaine Mundle is making good progress and could be back after the October international break, whilst Aji Alese isn’t far off and could resume training next week. In worse news, Dennis Cirkin and Leo Hjelde have suffered setbacks and the club are taking their time with them – and to be fair, I don’t see why they wouldn’t, as neither player is getting anywhere near the starting eleven anytime soon, given the quality of player we’ve recruited over the summer.
The interesting thing for me coming out of this break is how much Le Bris values the time he’s had with the players who stayed back in Sunderland, and whether that bumps them up in his thinking for today’s game. Wilson Isidor has two goals already this season, so is he a shoo-in the start given that Eliezer Mayenda has been away with Spain, and Brian Brobbey is a little behind on his readiness? With Ballard missing, and Alderete jetting half way around the world after playing in the early hours of wednesday morning for Paraguay, is there a chance we could see Lutsharel Geertruida come straight in at the centre of defence? Will Enzo Le Fee start on the left again, especially given Talbi and Adingra have been away on international duty?
These are nice problems to have, and I guess it’s a luxury only Premier League football can afford you. How many of our ~£20m signings will sit on the bench? Oh, how awful!
My gut feeling is that the changes won’t be particularly extreme. Roefs in nets, a back four of Reinildo, Alderete, Mukiele and Hume, a midfield three of Xhaka, Sadiki and Diarra, with Le Fee and Mayenda on the wings and Wilson Isidor up top. Le Fee and Mayenda give us better defensive cover out wide, but also have the tools to harm Palace when we try and break against them with pace, whilst I’d find it hard to argue that Isidor hasn’t earned a chance to start. I would really like to see Brobbey up against Guehi, but that might be a battle saved for later in the game.
Predictions
My head is saying that to go and get anything away at Palace would be an incredible achievement – even a point – but my heart is saying that this might not be the worst time to play them, given the injuries they’ve suffered to Wharton and Sarr, so we might just go there and spring a surprise.
That’s the beauty of the start we’ve had to the season — I have absolutely no idea anymore what to expect from Sunderland, so let’s just wait and see what happens.
I’m always glass-half-full, so I’ll go with a 1-0 win to the Lads thanks to a Brian Brobbey goal on his debut, off the bench late in the game!
