A winless Sunderland side come up against arguably the best away side in the Premier League, West Ham.
Sunderland sit rock bottom of the table with 2 points, and 18 first half goals conceded this season. However, West Ham are currently occupying 3rd place in the League, and already have a win at The Emirates, Anfield and The Etihad to their name. In what could be a very tough encounter for The Black Cats this weekend, we will look through some of the key aspects of the game and what to look out for on Saturday.
Dimitri Payet
West Ham’s attacking midfielder has impressed everyone so far in his first season in the Premier League. The £8-million (roughly) man has scored 3 goals so far this season, including both goals in The Hammers’ 2-0 victory over Newcastle.
With Payet’s love for coming forward, ability on the ball and excellent range of passing, he will be a real handful for the Sunderland back 4. Sunderland have arguably the worst defence in the League this season, and it doesn’t seem like things are going to change. Payet will be a key player for West Ham in the coming game, which seems like a certainty for a West Ham victory.
Goals, Goals, Goals.
Sunderland have currently conceded the most goals in the Premier League this season with 16 and also have the worst goal difference with -10. On the opposite end of the table, West Ham have scored the joint-most goals this season with 15.
Kaboul and Coates have been Sunderland’s worst signings (so far) this season, with neither player getting anywhere near the form that they’ve shown in the past. With Sunderland’s preferred central defensive 2 being Kaboul and O’Shea, they will be in for a tough game. Sakho alone will struggle the defence with his pace, attacking positioning and shooting ability.
Former Newcastle man Andy Carroll is on his way back from injury, which isn’t a good sign for Sunderland. The Geordie would no doubt love to score a goal against his former sworn rivals and with his decent ability both in the air and on the ground, if he featured, he will be a major handful for the entire back 4.
If that wasn’t bad enough, midfielders Kouyate and Payet have scored 3 goals each so far this season. Both midfielders love going forward, with a wide range of passing and are a strong driving force. There is no doubt that both players will be aiming to get forward at any given opportunity, and help their side to a potential victory.
Youth is Key
It’s no surprise that Sunderland have been abysmal so far this campaign, but with all their problems, why have youth not been given a chance? I feel that writing this is most likely completely pointless, as for some reason Advocaat seems reluctant to give the youth a chance.
Duncan Watmore is Sunderland’s only youth player to have featured in the League so far this season, but since illness ruled him out of the Bournemouth encounter, he hasn’t featured back in the side. Since then, Watmore has scored 4 goals for the U-21’s including a hat-trick against Manchester City. There are a number of players this season who haven’t played well at all, and have done nothing to deserve to keep their place.
But some players, such as Adam Johnson, Patrick van Aanholt and Billy Jones somehow seem to have no competition. Youth should be introduced into the Sunderland side, hoping that they can show some desire and faith that the majority of the Sunderland players haven’t shown at all this season. Surely they cannot be worse than the players we’ve seen already this season, therefore they should be given a chance.
Goal Drought
As everyone is aware, Sunderland are still without a win in the league this season. But in addition to this, Sunderland failed to score a single league goal in the whole of September.
Fabio Borini is yet to score in a Sunderland shirt since his return to Wearside, and Jermain Defoe hasn’t scored since The Black Cats drew 1-1 with Swansea and has missed some unbelievable chances, that the Defoe of the past would have buried.
A win is vital for Sunderland, therefore they should do all they can to ensure they give themselves the best chance for victory. With Defoe not featuring in either the Capital One Cup match against Manchester City or the 3-0 loss against Manchester United, it is expected that Defoe will return. But with Advocaat knowing how vital a win is before the squad break up for the international break, Dick may try and find a way to fit in both Borini and Defoe up front in order to score some goals.
Hopefully, Sunderland can get their first win of the season this Saturday and kick-start their season. Better late than never.
