Last weekend’s win over Chelsea created a few questions for Regis Le Bris to answer – and all of them are very nice problems to have! Do we stick with the back 5 or revert back to a 4? Does Alderete come straight back in or does Geertrudia keep his place? Here’s how we think Sunderland might line up tonight.
Goalkeeper: Robin Roefs
Roefs will of course be in goal – and it’ll be nice to see him line up on the same field as former Sunderland keeper Jordan Pickford.
Defence: Nordi Mukiele, Dan Ballard, Omar Alderete, Reinildo
This is where it starts to get interesting. Geertruida was
excellent in defence last weekend, but Alderete’s been excellent all season. Everton have some good wingers, so I suspect we’ll revert to a back four – Reinildo is a certainty on the left, Mukiele and Ballard will play, so it’s a choice between Alderete, Geertruida and Hume for the final spot in defence… I have a feeling it’ll be Alderete, but it’s a tough one to predict with any certainty! It would be mighty tough on Hume, but it just goes to show the strength we have available.
Midfield: Lutsharel Geertruida, Granit Xhaka, Noah Sadiki
We saw Granit Xhaka play a bit further forward on Saturday, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Geertuida come into the midfield today – of course, this gives us some flexibility too to change shape as when we need to. But, equally, you wouldn’t be surprised to see Rigg in there for a game like this, however I’m hoping we see something like this tonight.
Attack: Chemsdine Talbi, Wilson Isidor, Enzo Le Fee
You’d imagine Le Fee and Isidor are certain to start, and with Everton’s apparent lack of pace at the back – and his performances from the bench in recent weeks – I think Talbi’s got to start tonight too. Traore’s done pretty well – I think he’s got some unwarranted criticism over the past few weeks – but I think he’ll drop out.
