English Premier League, Match Preview: Sunderland versus Birmingham City
Sunderland are all prepared to take on Alex McLeish’s Birmingham City in a season opening match on Saturday, the 14th of August, 2010. After a relatively quiet summer transfer window for both the teams, Sunderland and Birmingham will play each other with almost the same squads they ended the 2009-2010 season with.
Sunderland are still being managed by Steve Bruce, who used to play for Manchester United. The ex-United player took over from Ricky Sbragia who stepped down as Sunderland’s manager after successfully keeping them in the English Premier League in the 2008-2009 season. Bruce took the reins for the 2009-2010 season and steered Sunderland to a thirteenth placed finish in the English Premier League.
At the Stadium of light, Bruce reorganized the dejected Sunderland squad and made some crucial signings such as Darren Bent from Tottenham Hotspurs. Bent’s goals in the 2009-2010 season, turned him into a fan favourite at Sunderland and also cemented Bruce’s reputation as an expert manager as far as transfers are concerned.
However, Steve Bruce made the decision of parting ways with Kenwyne Jones in the summer. Jones spent three years with Sunderland and was also held in high esteem by the faithful at Tyneside. Kenwyne’s departure has been complimented by Danny Wellbeck’s arrival at Sunderland on a loan move from Manchester United. Wellbeck, who is just nineteen right now is a centre forward who played only eleven games for Manchester United last season but scored two goals for the red devils.
Steve has also brought in other players like Cristian Riveros, Ahmed Al-Muhammadi, Simon Mignolet, Titus Bramble, Marcos Angeleri and John Mensah. Other than Kenwyne Jones, Amie Chandler, Roy O'Donovan, Lorik Cana, Daryl Murphy, Conor Hourihane, Marton Fulop, Jean Yves M'voto and Oumare Tounkara have also left the club.
Sunderland’s opponents Birmingham City finished ninth in the English Premier League last season. Alex McLeish, who is currently managing Birmingham, was in-charge last season as well and under his guidance Birmingham proved their status as Premier League club to everyone in the English league. At the start of the 2009-2010 season, Birmingham City were being considered as the whopping boys of the league but McLeish turned the team into an competitive fixtures as the club finished above fellow rivals such as Stoke City, Fulham, Blackburn and Sunderland as well.
Birmingham’s biggest signing of the current summer transfer window so far has been Ben Foster from Manchester United. The youthful English goalkeeper grew frustrated at the lack of first team chances at United and opted to switch clubs in order to remain in contention for England national team selection. Along with Foster, Nikola Zigic has also been a high profile arrival at Birmingham City from Valencia F.C in the Spanish football league. The Serbian international striker played for his national team at the 2010 FIFA World Cup and will offer Birmingham someone with plenty of aerial strength up the field.
Players such as Artur Krysiak, Cristian Benitez, Gary McSheffrey, Lee Carsley, Franck Queudrue and Gregory Vignal, Jake Jervis, Robin Shroot have left the Birmingham based club. Both Birmingham and Sunderland are expected to field their teams in a 4-4-2 formation.
For Sunderland, this means that Bent and Frazier Campbell will start the match. In central midfield, the black cats will play the tenacious Cattermole along with Richardson and Malbranque on the wings. John Mensah is also a favourite to make his debut alongside Cattermole in Sunderland’s midfield. At the back, Sunderland will most probably go with their regular four defenders that are Bardsley, Turner, Ferdinand and George McCartney
Birmingham will look to counter Sunderland’s attacking approach to the game by playing their new signing Zigic along with Cameron Jerome upfront in attack. Larsson, Ferguson, Michel and Fahey will make up the Birmingham midfield while Foster at the back will organize a defensive line which consists of Gardner, Ridgewell, Johnson and Dann.
Sunderland will most likely be the favourites for this match as the encounter is taking place on their home ground, which is called the stadium of light. Another thing to note is that, Birmingham might have over achieved in last season’s English Premier League, so their performances may be a bit below par in the upcoming English Premier League season.
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