Roberts starts, no Defoe & £5k-p/w dud axed: How SAFC's XI may look after Jan window - opinion

Sunderland are currently sat third in the League One table and are still in the race to land an automatic promotion place by the end of the season.

The Black Cats dipped into the transfer market in January in an attempt to bolster their chances of getting over the line, with a number of new additions coming in.

Patrick Roberts, Jack Clarke, Jermain Defoe, Trai Hume, Jay Matete and Danny Batth all came in, either on loan or permanently.

How could the team look after these latest signings? Here is our predicted XI…

We are predicting that this will be the XI Sunderland settle on, with new signings Matete, Roberts, Clarke and Batth all starting.

This line-up comes in a 4-2-3-1 formation, seen in recent matches in League One, but with no manager currently at the helm, it remains to be seen what the preferred system will be in the months to come.

The full-backs could stay the same for the rest of the campaign, with Hume brought in with no experience of English football under his belt. He could burst onto the scene and emerge as a first-team option, but there is no evidence to reasonably predict that it will happen any time soon.

In midfield, Corry Evans has averaged a SofaScore rating of 6.72. Matete, meanwhile, has averaged a score of 6.76 for Fleetwood in the same division. This suggests that he could be a slight upgrade on the veteran, whilst he could also benefit from the regular game time at the age of 20.

On the wings, Leon Dajaku and Lynden Gooch could make way for Roberts and Clarke. The latter of the pair could potentially be axed, failing to score a single goal in 24 matches and the £5k-per-week dud could find himself on the bench if Clarke has been brought in with a view to him starting on the left.

Meanwhile,