Sunderland host Hull City this evening looking to get back to winning ways after defeat against Ipswich Town at Portman Road.
Black Cats boss Michael Beale is predicting another tough encounter against one of their promotion rivals, but is in possession of the bragging rights after getting the better of Liam Rosenior's side on Boxing Day.
"There won’t be much between the two teams and there’ll be a lot of games like that between now and the end of the season and that’s why we were disappointed [at Ipswich] and the frustration was shared in the dressing room amongst ourselves," Beale told We Are Sunderland.
"It stays there, but for us to lose a tight game on a set play, that’s where the frustration was coming out of the game. You can miss chances and things like that but to lose such a tight game on a set play [is frustrating].
"Just before I came in we beat West Brom and we got the first goal from a set play so you know how important those little isolated moments are in the game. I thought our performance away at Ipswich, in the main part, was good and there would have been a lot of positives had we got a result there.
"The focus now is on these two home games. Three out of the last four away has not been kind, now we’ve got two really big games at home. We know Hull well. We put in an excellent performance at their place."
Read more: What Michael Beale can take from Sunderland's win over Hull
The Black Cats are still without Patrick Roberts, Bradley Dack, Dennis Cirkin and Niall Huggins for the clash with the Tigers, while Aji Alese also picked up a knock in training this week and is a doubt for the game.
With that in mind, here's who our writers think will start against Hull City:
Matty Hewitt
The Sunderland head coach made one change for the trip to Ipswich from the side that beat Preston North End at home on New Year's Day. Nazariy Rusyn dropped to the bench, with Abdoullah Ba coming into the side at Portman Road.
However, I'd expect that change to work the other way for tonight's game. Beale has hinted that he'll take a different approach to the one he instilled at the MKM Stadium in the reverse fixture, with the onus on Sunderland to take the game to the Tigers.
I'd expect Rusyn to come back into the starting line-up instead of Ba, Jack Clarke and Alex Pritchard on either flank. After all, the latter of the two was set to play at Hull last month, only for illness to rule him of the tie.
It's in defence where the Sunderland boss has a decision to make. Alese's knock in training this week means the Black Cats are once again short of options at left-back and I'd expect them to take extra precaution given the 23-year-old has not long returned from injury.
That would likely see Trai Hume move over to left-back, allowing Jenson Seelt to come into the side at right-back, just as he did on Boxing Day. The young Dutch defender has been made to bide his time but has impressed against Leeds United and tonight's opponents.
Joe Ramage
Michael Beale’s revelation that Aji Alese will be a doubt for this game throws in some concern and I guess re-emphasises the impact of both Dennis Cirkin and Niall Huggins being missing.
Huggins, who we know will be out of action until next year, and Cirkin, who is unlikely to be back until towards the end of the season, both being out had led to Beale having to put Alese back in at full scale as opposed to any phased return – that despite Alese coming back from a long-term injury himself. Inevitably then, that looks to have caught up with Alese, who seems set to miss out against Hull.
Should that be the case, then you would expect Trai Hume to be deployed over at left-back which leaves the right-back position open. Beale has commented on both Jenson Seelt and Nectarios Triantis in recent weeks and how pleased he has been with their performance levels in training and how they provide him with an option of switching to a back three. I don’t see that here, though.
Seelt came back into the side in the reverse fixture at Hull on Boxing Day and performed well so I suspect we may see similar from Beale at the Stadium of Light. An alternative could be to hand Timothee Pembele a first start but, again, given Beale’s remarks about the Frenchman needing to build up his level of fitness, a spot on the bench seems more likely for the summer signing from Paris Saint-Germain.
READ MORE: Jenson Seelt's return at Hull shows why Sunderland swooped for Burnley transfer target
Beale spoke about the concerns of burnout within his young midfield but despite Jay Matete’s return to the squad against Ipswich Town, it would be a surprise should Dan Neil and Pierre Ekwah not continue in central midfield. The decision, like most weeks, will come in front of those two.
At Ipswich we saw the return of Abdoullah Ba after Beale praised the Frenchman’s application in training. Ba rewarded Beale with one of his better performances in recent weeks – off the back of a decent cameo in the Wear-Tyne derby defeat. With Patrick Roberts still out, Ba could keep his spot on the right, having also provided the assist for Jack Clarke last weekend.
Ba on the right would allow Alex Pritchard to continue in the No.10 position with Clarke on the left, who is set to make his 100th appearance for Sunderland. Will Beale stick with Jobe, who he suggested as a striker at Portman Road a week ago, or will we see the return of Nazariy Rusyn who scored in his last league appearance at the Stadium of Light?
“He’s fine,” Beale told We Are Sunderland on Rusyn. “He’s trained well. We went away from home [at Ipswich], we had a bit of a recipe from the Hull performance where we played with Dack and Jobe – I thought Adil came on in that game and was very, very good.
“If I look back at some of the games before I came in, and in some of the big games we played a certain way and we try to give some real clarity to the team. So there was nothing other than that in it, it was a really close game that could have gone our way and we’re not talking about it now.
“Naz is available for selection this week, he’s trained well, he’s a player that I like. It’s fair to say that before I came in he was out of the picture a little bit and I’ve tried to bring him right back into it, so there’s only positivity between me and him.”
Given how well Beale’s set-up worked at Hull, however, I predict Jobe will be the one to continue leading the line with Rusyn perhaps given a longer cameo from the bench.
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