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Club Focus - Sunderland - Bruce firmly focused on a top half finish.
Forget the title chase and the relegation battle, even the bid for the fourth Champion’s League position holds little interest on Wearside, here the only thing anyone is talking about is the race for tenth.
This may be slightly overstating things, but Steve Bruce has the last remaining top half position available firmly in his ambitions. Three other clubs are in the reckoning for this coveted spot, namely Blackburn Rovers, Stoke City and currently in pole position, Fulham. Of course it is unclear whether these club’s view the battle for tenth as any kind of a legitimate contest, the Cottager’s priorities for example, may lie elsewhere. The Mackems will begin their final three games of the season with an away trip to Hull City and would appear to be favourites but having still to win on the road since their opening day victory at Bolton this may offer hope to a Hull side desperately searching for a win. Scanning across the fixtures of the sides immediately above them, Blackburn Rovers face a tough trip to Wolves whilst Stoke and Fulham face even tougher visits to Chelsea and Everton respectively. There is a real chance that - if Sunderland can overcome their terrible away form and muster three points - they will climb up the table.
The Sunderland manager reasserted his top half ambitions this week saying: “I never gave up hope that we could reach 10th place as I knew we could string some results together. Its still a long shot but it’s all to play for and if we win this weekend then who knows.” However, he then admitted that if they are to come out on top they have to do something about their dismal away form, among the worst in the league. It has been a characteristic of the Premier League this season that those teams in the bottom half of the table have been particularly bad away from home - more so than usual - with Wolves and Bolton the only two sides to have accumulated four wins on their travels. Out of the sides below tenth Sunderland are one of five teams to have either a single away victory or in Hull’s case, not even that. The Wearsider’s are by no means alone then, but getting away from stats alone, their away performances have contrasted starkly with much of their output at the Stadium of Light. Here they have recently played with confidence and energy, becoming increasingly comfortable in possession, and taking games to their opponents. Away this is all lost for some reason and with a points total of 50 - akin to say, Manchester City last season - still within the North East club’s grasp, they will have to find a remedy that most of the lower half of the table covets and win games at the KC and then Molineux.
Ahead of the weekend’s game the Wearsiders have a few injury worries, but nothing that should affect the side Bruce would ordinarily pick. Lorik Cana and Lee Cattermole are the two most notable doubts, although David Meyler and Jordan Henderson will ably deputise in the centre of midfield. It is likely that the side to face Hull will be unchanged from the one that faced Burnley last weekend. Fraizer Campbell will hope to continue his recent good form on the right-wing with Steed Malbranque on the left, with the familiar strike partnership of Kenwyne Jones and Darren Bent starting up front. However, Bruce has hinted this week that he may - finally - opt for a 4-5-1 formation away from home, something he arguably should have thought about doing months ago. At the back it will be interesting to see if the Sunderland manager continues with such attacking full-backs in Alan Hutton and Kieran Richardson or opts for a more conservative option. Bruce will need to get the message through to his players that they have to take the same kind of initiative they show in their home performances, keep possession of the ball and attack a Hull City side that will be low on self belief.
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