Sunderland welcome Sheffield Wednesday to the Stadium of Light on Thursday evening knowing that a win would take them to the top of League One heading into 2022 and the remainder of the season. 

Yes, many promotion rivals have games in hand, however the Black Cats are one of the most in-form teams in the league and bounced back quickly from the Carabao Cup defeat to Arsenal by smashing Doncaster Rovers 3-0 on their own patch on Monday afternoon.

Ross Stewart’s penalty, Elliot Embleton’s strike and an own goal from Ben Blythe gave the visitors a comfortable victory and saw them move to within one point of leaders Rotherham United.

Johnson’s side have been hit with a couple of Covid cases but the clash with the Owls is still expected to go ahead. Carl Winchester faces a race against time to be fit having suffered a knock in training which kept him out of the Doncaster game.

Sheffield Wednesday haven’t been in action since the 11th December due to their own complications with covid but were in fine form before their unexpected 19 day break. Darren Moore’s side are difficult to break down and have the best defensive record in the third tier – it’s likely to be a close encounter.

Sunderland have the best home record in League One and have picked up 28 points from a possible 33 at the Stadium of Light. The home side know a win would take them above Rotherham into top spot, heading into the New Year in the best way possible.

The Black Cats are chasing promotion back to the Championship after three seasons in the third tier and will take a huge step towards their target with a win against the Owls.

Lee Johnson’s side are unbeaten in their last eight league matches and have conceded just six goals in their 11 home league games, the fewest in the division.

The Owls were the last side to beat Sunderland in the league after a 3-0 win for Darren Moore’s team at Hillsborough in early November.

However, since that disappointing showing, the Wearsiders have embarked on an unbeaten run which has seen them climb back towards the League One summit.

The game on Thursday evening features two of the most in-form sides in the division who both have visions of promotion back to the Championship come the end of the campaign.

Wednesday have not lost in their last 12 league matches, although seven of those have been draws. In addition, they are on an eight-game unbeaten run away from home and have only lost twice on the road this season.

Moore’s side sit just two points adrift from the play-off spots and have lost just three times all season. It promises to be a tasty top-half encounter on Wearside – what a way to end a dramatic 2021 in League One.

FORM

D W W D L W

W W D L D W 

• Sunderland have lost just one of their previous 10 Football League home games against Sheffield Wednesday (W6 D3) although that defeat did come in the most recent league encounter at the Stadium of Light (3-1 in April 2018).
• Sunderland are without a win over the Owls in the previous four games against them, the last victory came in 2007 when the Black Cats ran out 4-2 winners.
• Neither side have lost a League One match since the start of November when the Owls won 3-0 at the start of the month.

TEAM NEWS

Carl Winchester has been deemed ’50/50′ for Thursday’s clash by manager Lee Johnson, after a training ground knock kept the Northern Ireland man out of Monday’s victory at Doncaster. Aiden O’Brien could be in contention to return to the squad after isolating with Covid-19.

Johnson has confirmed that Everton loanee Nathan Broadhead will be sidelined with a hamstring injury for a minimum of three months.

Ross Stewart will play upfront once again and is looking to score in consecutive matches for the first time since the opening two games of the campaign.

For Wednesday, Massimo Luongo is unavailable as he serves the second of a three-match suspension while the Owls’ extended break from action has allowed Chey Dunkley to return to fitness and he should be back in the matchday squad.

Callum Paterson is in contention to partner top-scorer Lee Gregory in attack for the second match running. Sam Hutchinson and Dennis Adeniran have been given extra time to recover from their respective injuries after the Owls’ 19 day break.

POTENTIAL LINE-UPs

SAFC:                                                                                    SWFC:

MANAGERS COMMENTS

Speaking ahead of the SoL showdown, Johnson set his sights on New Year’s success.

“It feels a little like a cup final now that the Fleetwood game is off. For us it marks that big final push before some downtime ahead of the Wycombe game, whereas Sheffield Wednesday have had a long build-up and it’s been their focus for eight to ten days.”

He continued:

“We are really looking forward to it and I know we are expecting a lot of fans – if it wasn’t for the understandable anxiety around COVID-19, we would have been expecting even more. I have a lot of respect for Wednesday because it is a huge club and like us, they will be disappointed to find themselves in League One and be fighting extremely hard to earn the privilege of getting out of it.”

He added:

“We enter 2022 in a good position and we are on the shoulders of the leaders, but we must continue to fight hard as the challengers if we hope to become champions.

“I truly believe that we have another gear in us and that we will get better.”

Pre-match thoughts? Score predictions?

Can Sunderland head into 2022 as league leaders? Will Stewart score in consecutive matches? Can Johnson’s side extend their unbeaten run?

Join in the conversation and have your say…