Sunderland vs Man City. Premier League Matchday 19 Preview

Man City have gladly took advantage of Utd’s failure to win at Carrow Road and narrowed the gap on leaders to four points.

Both teams have battled to narrow 1-0 victories over their respective adversaries in Premier League Matchday 18. While Fletcher has scored the only goal of the game in Sunderland’s away win over Southampton, it was Barry who grabbed the winning goal deep into injury time in the clash against struggling Reading.

Sunderland’s revival under O’Neil looks thrilling although they are still unable to deal with the attacking might of the top English sides (they fold without a fight against both Manchester clubs). It is likely that O’Neil instructs his players to play more defensively and try and catch the Citizens on counter attack. Steven Fletcher who has scored eight goals out of his 15 shots on target remains the only hope for Black Cats.

What concerns the latest team news, Sunderland’s winger Adam Johnson (dead leg) and midfielder Sebastian Larsson (knee) remain a doubt after the pair has suffered injuries the 1-0 Black Cats win over Southampton. The captain Lee Cattermole and defender Wes Brown are on the long-term injury list with knee problems.

Man City skipper Vincent Kompany may return into the first team after being benched for a match against Reading. Balotelli could also take part in the game after recovering from illness. Midfielder Samir Nasri will definitely miss Man City’s festive fixtures due to hamstring injury, while midfielder Jack Rodwell and right back Micah Richards (knee) are out for a long period of time.

Probable line-ups:

Sunderland: Mignolet; Rose, Cuéllar, O’Shea, Gardner; McClean, Colback, Larsson, Johnson, Sessegnon; Fletcher.

Man CIty: Hart, Zabaleta, Lescott, Nastasić, Clichy, Milner, Touré, Javi Garcia, Silva, Agüero, Džeko.

Footballtop.com prediction: Sunderland 1-2 Man CIty