Match Preview: Sunderland v Norwich City - all you need to know ahead of kick-off!

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Saturday 28th October 2023

(10th) Sunderland v Norwich City (14th)

Championship

Stadium of Light

Kick-Off: 15:00

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Tickets & Match Coverage

Tickets: Tickets are available via www.safc.com.

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

Radio: Full live match commentary available via BBC Radio 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!

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The build-up...

I doubt it’s too taxing a question - but I’ll ask it anyway - who was the last Sunderland manager to lose four consecutive league games?

No prizes for you if you said Simon Grayson - because that is the correct answer - back over August and September of 2017, and it’s the Lads' task to avoid Tony Mowbray becoming the latest Sunderland manager to achieve that feat.

However, the Championship being the division it always is, we’ve lost three on the bounce and yet still find ourselves three points behind Leeds United in 3rd.

There’s a long way to go yet, but the current table suggests that Leicester City and Ipswich Town are running away with the automatic spots and that leaves the rest of the division fighting out for the four play-off positions - with only eight points separating 3rd and 21st in the table.

Considering Leicester’s start, our midweek performance did much to blow away the disappointment that was the trip to Stoke City and the Lads were unfortunate to come away from the King Power empty-handed.

All eyes will be on team selection this afternoon, especially in the forward areas. After being the division's top scorers at one point, we’ve scored one goal in the last three games and a chance to get a couple of goals on home soil could hopefully do the trick.

Photo by Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images

Norwich City will have no doubt have been disappointed with their first attempt at returning to the Premier League last season. With Dean Smith taking the first half of the season until he was replaced by David Wagner in January, the Canaries ended up 13th.

After a quarter of the season already behind us, Norwich are currently one place worse off this season and they’re in a bad run of form. Wagner’s side find themselves on a run of one win in seven, which resulted in the manager describing their current struggles as “difficult” in midweek following their second home defeat in four days against Middlesbrough.

Their away form over their six games on the road so far doesn’t make for pleasant reading either, with only one win on the board so far and half have ended in defeat.

But their stats suggest there could be goals this afternoon as no other side have conceded more on their travels and only Leicester have scored more - let’s hope that plays into our hands this afternoon.

Having said that, our record against Norwich on our own patch isn’t great, as we have failed to notch up a win against Norwich at home in the last five games and have to look back to February 2012 for the last occasion when Martin O’Neill led the Lads to a 3-0 win.

Photo by Cameron Howard/Getty Images

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Sunderland home form...

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Norwich City away form...

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The betting...

The bookies have the Lads down as favourites at 21/20, while an away win is priced at around 12/5 and the draw is 5/2.

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Head to head... at Sunderland

(All competitions)

• Sunderland wins: 12
• Draws: 8
• Norwich City wins: 11
• Sunderland goals: 41
• Norwich City goals: 32

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Last time we met... at the Stadium of Light

Saturday 27th August 2022

Championship

Sunderland 0-1 Norwich City

[Sargent 76’]

Sunderland: Patterson, Gooch, O’Nien, Batth, Cirkin, Clarke, Evans (Roberts), Neil, Pritchard (Embleton), Stewart, Simms Substitutes not used: Bass, Hume, Wright, Alese, Diamond

Norwich City: Krul, Aarons, McLean, Gibbs (Byram), Omobamidele, Hanley, Sinani (Pukki), Dowell (Ramsey), Sargent, Nunez, Hernandez (Cantwell) Substitutes not used: Gunn, Gibson, Sara

Attendance: 36,440

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

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Played for both...

Gary Rowell

After ten years at Sunderland, Rowell was released by Len Ashurst as part of a rebuild, joining Norwich City in the summer of 1984. Unfortunately, Rowell picked up a knee injury in a pre-season tour, which limited him to just six appearances for the Canaries. Spells at Middlesbrough, Brighton and Burnley followed, but in the six seasons from leaving Roker in 1984 to retiring in 1990, he made only 72 appearances.

Photo by PA Images via Getty Images

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