Sunderland fell to a 1-3 defeat at home to Norwich last weekend, a result that will see their supporters crying out for an improved showing as they welcome Swansea to the Stadium of Light. Swansea meanwhile recorded an excellent 2-0 win at home to Newcastle and will be looking to make it back-to-back wins over the North-east clubs this Saturday.
Sunderland will have to be alive to Swansea’s attacking threat this weekend, as they registered the most shots on target of any Premier League team last weekend with 16 according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index.
A key part of the Swans’ attacking formation will undoubtedly be Bafetimbi Gomis, who has so far registered four attempts on goal in the opening two weeks of the season, hitting the target with 75% of them. Younes Kaboul should be more the capable of handling him though, having won 88.9% of his nine attempted tackles so far this term.
Jonjo Shelvey will aim to dictate the pace of the game this weekend and the Blackcats will look to midfield enforcer Lee Cattermole to shut down the space around him. Shelvey has already completed a squad-high 73 passes this term and attempted 16 crosses, whilst Cattermole has notched up three interceptions so their midfield tussle could prove to be an intriguing sub-plot. Shelvey is an industry-best 7/2 to score at any time with 888sport.com.
Jefferson Montero has been on a tear since the start of the new campaign, using his pace and trickery to good effect against opposition fullbacks. He’s so far hit a top speed of 31.3km/h, but with Patrick van Aanholt having hit the 34km/h mark this season it looks to be a battle of the speedsters down the flanks according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index.
Midfielder Sebastian Larsson will provide the one of the primary creative threats for Sunderland in the middle on Saturday, his vision and technique already seeing him rack up 19 passes and seven attempted crosses this season. Part of Gylfi Sigurdsson’s role this weekend will be to win that particular battle with Larsson, and despite being known more for his offensive qualities, he’s already compiled a 66.7% success ratio from his nine attempted tackles.
Credit - Data courtesy of the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, the Official Player Rating Index of the Barclays Premier League