"Excellent" 23 y/o starts & "fantastic" £2.9k gem axed in SAFC predicted XI vs Shrews - opinion

Sunderland will host Shrewsbury at the Stadium of Light in a Good Friday clash that could put Sunderland in a very comfortable position to secure a play-off spot keeping their promotion dreams alive.

The Black Cats are currently sixth in the League One table matching Sheffield Wednesday and Wycombe Wanderers for points, so a win today is important to keep their hopes of promotion to the Championship in their hands.

Although their opponents have nothing to play for as they are comfortably 16th, 11 points clear of relegation, they will not be an easy team to beat as they currently have the third best defensive record in the entire league conceding just 40 goals in 42 games, so Sunderland will need to deploy their best attack to break down Shrewsbury.

In terms of team and injury news, Alex Neil has confirmed that Leon Dajaku is still not available for selection after falling ill, however Alex Pritchard could be in contention to start as the Sunderland manager gave an update on his fitness in his pre-match press conference.

Neil told the press;

“Alex is making good progress.”

Long term injuries remain unchanged with an update on Aidan McGeady’s chances of playing again for the side this season, the Black Cats boss said on Thursday;

“I’m hopeful that in the next week, he might start joining in training again, but it’ll be really reliant on how he goes over these next few steps in terms of what he looks like over the next couple of days.”

With that being said, this is how Football Fancast expects Sunderland to line-up this afternoon…

We expect to see just one change to the team that won against Oxford United to keep the victorious momentum in the team against Shrewsbury, with the same 3-5-2 formation.

We predict that Elliot