Match Preview: Fleetwood Town v Sunderland

---

Fleetwood Town v Sunderland

Sky Bet League One

Highbury Stadium

Kick-Off: 7.45pm - Friday 27th November 2020

---

Match Coverage

TV/Stream: Full live match coverage available via www.safc.com

Radio: Full live match commentary available via BBC Newcastle (not online)

Don’t forget to follow the blow-by-blow account of the game on the Roker Report Twitter feed (@RokerReport) and check out the player ratings after the full-time whistle at www.RokerReport.com!

---

Sunderland travel to in-form Fleetwood Town looking to avoid going five games without a win, while Joey Barton’s side are hoping to record a third successive victory after a run of five wins in seven.

Both sides sit on 22 points in the two positions outside the League One play-offs, and a victory for either side will help them keep in touch with the early pace setters. Defeat for Sunderland would also increase the already mounting pressure on manager Phil Parkinson as we potentially begin to lose touch with the top six.

The clubs met just over a fortnight ago in the Papa John’s Trophy when Fleetwood Town were 2-1 winners, but this time around the stakes are much higher, especially for the short-term future of the Sunderland manager.

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

---

Sunderland Team News

Will Phil Parkinson shuffle his pack this week? He has one enforced change to make as Lynden Gooch has been ruled out with injury, but he may be tempted to make more.

Mainly through habit, I’m expecting Parkinson to push Scowen further forward into Gooch’s role and bringing Max Power back into the XI. Embleton will be the other option as a straight swap but this type of change doesn’t seem to be on the manager’s radar.

Possible XI: Lee Burge, Connor McLaughlin, Bailey Wright, Tom Flanagan, Luke O’Nien, Grant Leadbitter, Max Power (c), Denver Hume; Josh Scowen, Chris Maguire, Charlie Wyke

---

Fleetwood Town Team News

Nine goals in the last two League One fixtures and maximum points means that it’s likely Joey Barton will stick with an unchanged side, despite having an almost full squad to pick from.

Callum Camps is already in double figures in the goalscoring stakes this season and will be looking to continue his run of form against Sunderland this week.

Possible XI: Leutwiler, Edwards, Connolly, Mulgrew, Andrew, Finley, Rossiter, Morris, Camps, Burns, Madden

Photo by Alex Dodd - CameraSport via Getty Images

---

Match Betting

The bookies see this as a close one, with Sunderland at 29/20 and a home victory is priced at 15/8. If you think each side will take a point, you can get 9/4.

For a correct score, a 1-1 draw is the favourite at 9/2, and a Sunderland victory by a comfortable margin such as 2-0 is 11/1 with a 3-0 at 25/1. Fleetwood to get the only goal of the game and win 1-0 is priced at 7/1.

Photo by Michael Driver/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images

---

Match Prediction

Fleetwood Town are in form and Sunderland haven’t won in the last four games. Unless we get that bit of luck we were getting a month or so ago, I just can’t see us getting three points.

Fleetwood Town 2 - 0 Sunderland