Sunderland journey away from the Stadium of Light for the second time this week as they face Stoke within the Championship this afternoon.
The Black Cats misplaced 2-1 to Sheffield United on Wednesday night time and can now be seeking to bounce again as they face the Potters.
Alex Neil might look to make some modifications to his crew with the intention of returning to successful methods, and one participant he must unleash from the beginning right now is centre-back Bailey Wright.
The Australian came off the bench within the defeat to the Blades and stood out above his team-mates with a SofaScore rating of 7.2 – the second-highest among the many away crew on the night time.
The 30-year-old made 5 clearances, two blocks and two interceptions in his 36 minutes on the pitch. Meanwhile, Danny Batth and Dennis Cirkin solely made seven clearances between them and didn’t make a block or interception, taking part in 86 and 90 minutes every respectively.
These statistics, alongside along with his match score, recommend that Wright defended to a better degree of high quality than the pair, and that’s one motive why Neil ought to begin him on Saturday.
Should Wright begin towards Stoke?
Yes
No
Roker Report author Philip West tweeted earlier this 12 months that the £13k-per-week defender has the “heart of a lion”.
Meanwhile, Black Cats legend Kevin Phillips beforehand in contrast him to Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk, saying: “He’s been an amazing signing. I don’t know the participant, however I simply get the sensation that he’s a frontrunner and a voice within the dressing room.
“Sometimes the supervisor can solely say a lot and you then need of your senior expertise gamers to pipe up and put a number of individuals of their place and provides encouragement and be a frontrunner. He looks like that.
“The stats just show what an important player he is. He’s almost to Sunderland what Van Dijk is to Liverpool at the moment with those incredible stats.”
The Dutch centre-back has won the Premier League and Champions League with Liverpool, dominating opposition gamers within the air. He received 77% of his aerial battles within the high flight final time period and 76% within the Reds’ 2019/20 title-winning marketing campaign, successful 63% within the intervening season.
Wright might be Sunderland’s personal model of the Dutchman towards Stoke as he’s additionally chic within the air. In the Championship this season, the Australian has received 100% of his aerial battles in two appearances, after successful 67% in each of his League One seasons with the membership.
This reveals that the 30-year-old has the standard to dominate opposition forwards, in an identical fashion to Van Dijk, and his potential within the air is one more reason why he ought to begin towards the Potters right now.