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Injury veteran Duncan Watmore - alongside Luke O’Nien and Reece James - makes the cut for today’s starting eleven. These three take up a spot at the expense of Adam Matthews, Bryan Oviedo and Josh Maja.
Watmore’s inclusion is particularly interesting for reasons other than his long-awaited return; his name on the team sheet relegates Maja’s to the bench, so it’s reasonable to assume he’ll be starting up top for Sunderland today - something we’ve seldom seen him do before.
Taking these changes into account, this is how the lineup looks:
Sunderland: Jon McLaughlin, Jack Baldwin, Glenn Loovens, Reece James, Luke O’Nien, Max Power, George Honeyman (c), Lee Cattermole, Lynden Gooch, Aiden McGeady, Duncan Watmore
Subs: Robbin Ruiter, Bryan Oviedo, Alim Ozturk, Chris Maguire, Dylan McGeouch, Josh Maja, Jerome Sinclair
We’re up against the league leaders. We’re fielding a plethora of in-from players and lads out of position, all the while some potentially powerful impact subs remain on standby. How will the events of today transpire?