Sunderland v Everton, May 3rd Sunday 16:00
Ricky Sbragia will be keen for Sunderland to stop licking their wounds after last week’s 3-0 defeat to West Brom and for his team to concentrate on getting some points off Everton and putting some distance between themselves and the relegation zone. Relying on their North East neighbours to continue to drop points is not an appropriate approach, particularly if it all goes down to the last match of the season (Sunderland face Chelsea). Sbragia will also be keen to put to bed the memory of the reverse fixture earlier this season, which was his first match in charge and was another 3:0 defeat for the Black Cats.
The Sunderland squad us however missing some key players. They are without goalkeeper Craig Gordon (knee), defender Nyron Nosworthy (hamstring) and George McCartney (calf). Sbragia will however be hopeful that Captain Dean Whitehead is ready to return after coming on as a substitute last week. French star Steed Malbranque is also available.
Although Toffee historians will be encouraged by the fact that Sunderland have not beaten Everton for 8 years, most fans will be more concerned by their more recent form. Everton have not won on their travels since December (beating Middlesbrough on Boxing Day) and this cause will not be helped by the absence of Phil Jagielka, sadly be missing for the rest of the season due to the knee ligament injury he picked up last week. It is likely that Joseph Yobo will cover for Jagielka and partner Joleon Lescott for the rest of the season in central defence. James Vaughan, Jack Rodwell and Dan Gosling could also all feature and Tim Cahill may return after starting on the bench last week.
Some commentators suggest that David Moyes may be resting his strongest players for the FA Cup final; however with fifth place in sight and the FA Cup several weeks way, this sounds more like wishful thinking from the Stadium of Light. This tie is however hard to call, I’ll go for a 2:1 win for Everton.