Sunderland v Ipswich Town: Match Preview

Sunderland will hope to come back from the international break refreshed after a period of bad results prior to the interval of domestic football.

Sunderland are six games without a win in all competitions, with their last win coming away at Crewe on October 19.

Ipswich come into the game in good form with a run of 11 games unbeaten in all competitions.

Sunderland is seventh in League One, while Ipswich sit in ninth place, four points behind this weekend’s opponents.

Sunderland have won the last three meetings between the two sides, with Ipswich having a player sent off in the last two.

Sunderland manager Lee Johnson has confirmed that goalkeeper Lee Burge is set to miss some time with a hip flexor injury, as a result fellow goalkeeper Anthony Patterson has been recalled from his loan spell at Notts County.

Ipswich don’t have any major injury concerns going into this weekend, but midfielder Sam Morsy is a yellow card away from suspension entering the game.

The referee for Saturday’s game is Tom Nield. Mr Nield last officiated a Sunderland game in their 1-0 defeat to Blackpool back in April. The last time he officiated an Ipswich game was in February when Ipswich won 1-0 away at Hull.

Players to watch:

Young Sunderland midfielder Dan Neil will return from international duty with England under 20s wanting to add to his tally of six assists and two goals so far this season. Neil leads the League One assists chart with former Sunderland player Max Power with five.

Welsh winger Wes Burns has been in fine form for Ipswich this season with three goals and four assists in 14 league games. Burns joined Ipswich from Fleetwood in the summer on a three-year deal.