Sunderland predicted XI to take on Lincoln | OneFootball

Sunderland are back in League One action today as they travel to face Lincoln in their last match before the international break.

The Black Cats will be hoping to head into the break on an unbeaten run, having gone five games without defeat in the third tier.

Alex Neil’s men beat Crewe Alexandra 2-0 at the Stadium of Light in their last outing and now come up against the Imps, who are 18th in the table as it stands.

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How many changes will Neil make to the team from that match? Here is our predicted XI…

We are predicting that he will make four alterations to the side from last time out, with Callum Doyle, Dan Neil, Patrick Roberts and Nathan Broadhead all coming in.

Firstly, we are backing the head coach to revert back to the 4-2-3-1 formation, after going with a 3-5-2 against Crewe, in order to incorporate more of his attacking midfield players. This means that Dennis Cirkin and Carl Winchester will revert to their traditional full-back positions, with on-loan centre-back Doyle coming in to partner Bailey Wright in the back four.

Wright previously tipped the youngster for big things in the game in the future, saying: “They are only at the start of their careers some of them, so you think I can’t wait until I’m retired on my sofa one day and Callum Doyle is captain of England.”

Ahead of the pair, we are predicting that Dan Neil will be brought into the mix after his goal off the bench against Crewe. The Wearside academy product scored the opening goal in the 84th minute after coming on for Luke O’Nien, and that could be enough to convince his namesake to put him in from the off today.

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On the right of the attacking midfield three, Broadhead couldmake his return from injury. We published an article explaining why Alex Neil must unleash the Everton loanee from the start if he is fit and available to play, as he has the quality to be a match-winner in League One.

Finally, we are predicting that Patrick Roberts will start in the number 10 role. He came on for Jermain Defoe against Crewe and caught the eye as he scored, completed 100% of his dribbles, won two of his three individual duels and created one chance, as per SofaScore.

His impressive cameo should be enough to earn him a starting berth alongside Jack Clarke and Broadhead, with Ross Stewart leading the line ahead of them.