Sunderland have suffered another major blow to their hopes of Premier League survival, with Paddy McNair set to miss the rest of the season due to a knee injury. The 21-year-old Northern Ireland international, who can play in either defence or midfield, only joined the Black Cats from Manchester United in August and made 12 appearances before being struck down by injury.
Jermain Defoe paid tribute to the character and spirit of the Sunderland squad after what he termed a ‘massive’ 2-1 victory over Bournemouth. Defoe netted from the penalty spot 16 minutes from full-time to give Sunderland a come-from-behind success, their first in the Premier League this season.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger hopes to have Olivier Giroud, Aaron Ramsey and possibly Santi Cazorla back in contention for the trip to Sunderland.Striker Giroud and midfielder Ramsey are definitely in contention to face the Black Cats at the Stadium of Light, while playmaker Cazorla faces a late test on an Achilles problem.
Southampton vs Sunderland
England – League Cup, Round of 16
Date: Wednesday, 26th October 2016
Kick-Off at 19:45 UK
Venue: St. Mary’s Stadium, Southampton.
The Black Cats have managed to garner just two points so far since Moyes replaced Sam Allardyce in the summer.
They are bottom of the table and on Saturday they travel to face Stoke City, the only other club in the top flight without a win.
I’d love to get that first win under our belts so that we could start to look up.
David Moyes
Sunderland are 10/3 to get their breakthrough victory against Mark Hughes’ men and, according to Moyes, it doesn’t matter how they achieve victory – as long as it comes soon.