Every year the Tyne and Wear derby seems to be billed as the biggest for a number of seasons and this time around, it’s no different. Sunderland, under their new manager Dick Advocaat, will be looking for a win to drag them away from the relegation zone and Newcastle will be looking for victory after suffering three defeats on the trot.
Dick Advocaat picked an offensive-looking team in his first game at the helm, with three recognised strikers in his starting lineup, in Jermain Defoe, Steven Fletcher and Connor Wickham. All three will have been keen to impress their new ‘gaffa and Wickham will certainly have done this, simply through the amount of ground he covered. The EA SPORTS Player Performance Index shows that he ran a total of 11.4km, which was more than any of his teammates.
When arriving at a club, new managers are often to willing to give players who may not have featured prominently under the old regime a go. Jordi Gomez falls under this category, as he had only featured in 1522 minutes of action prior to Advocaat taking the reins. However, he would certainly have made an impression on his new manager, as in Advocaat’s first match, he made a total of 19 attacking contributions, which was more than any other player in the Sunderland team.
If Advocaat is looking for steel in his midfield then he should look no further than midfielder Liam Bridcutt. The former Brighton man, this term, has shown that he has a good eye for a tackle, winning an impressive 77% of the challenges that he has attempted.
Newcastle are experiencing a tough run of form at the minute, suffering three defeats on the bounce. They’ll be looking for a victory over their fierce rivals to help their fortunes around.
It was a real Jekyll and Hyde performance from the Magpies in their last outing, as they were comfortably outplayed by Arsenal in the first half, before producing an inspirational fight back to nearly draw them level. French midfielder Rémy Cabella was central to this effort, as he completed an impressive 23 passes in the opposition half – which, according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, was more than any of his teammates.
There has been a lot of talk this season about promising English youngsters, with Raheem Sterling, Wilfried Zaha and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all enjoying stellar seasons with their clubs. One player who is often overlooked, however, is Newcastle winger Sammy Ameobi who throughout the season has showcased his excellent dribbling abilities. He was using this skill to great effect again against the Gunners, completing four dribbles, taking his tally for the season up to 42.
It will have been pleasing for Newcastle fans to see Ryan Taylor returning to action, as he has suffered such a torrid time with injuries. Despite being out of action for so long, he has not lost his willingness to run himself into the ground, with the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index showing that he ran a total of 11.1km against Arsenal, the second most in the Newcastle squad (behind only Remy Cabella).
