Barclays Premier League
Venue: Stadium of Light Date: Sunday, 27 April 2014
Match Links:WIZIWIG MATCH LINKS
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer insists Cardiff City will "get the job done" at Sunderland in Sunday's crucial Barclays Premier League relegation match.
Sunderland prop up the Barclays Premier League table, but are a point adrift of 18th-placed Cardiff ahead of the encounter at the Stadium of Light. Three points for either side could move them out of the relegation zone, provided that Norwich City lose at Manchester United on Saturday, with just two matchweeks to follow.
The Cardiff manager is refusing to contemplate defeat and is purely focused on beating Gus Poyet's men and returning to south Wales with maximum points.
"We won't go into the game worrying about what everyone else thinks, Solskjaer said. We're going to go there and get the job done.
"In a normal season one team would be adrift at the bottom but it's different this year, it's tight at the top and bottom. People talk about Sunderland being in good form but we're also shaping up well for this game."
The encounter may pit two sides struggling at the wrong end of the table against one another, but both head into the relegation six-pointer on the back of morale-boosting performances. Cardiff earned a surprise 1-0 win at Southampton on 12 April, before a 1-1 draw at home to in-form Stoke City last weekend.
Poyet's men have taken four points from visits to Manchester City and Chelsea in their past two fixtures. Connor Wickham's double earned a 2-2 draw at the Etihad Stadium, and he also netted as Sunderland won 2-1 at Stamford Bridge last weekend to end Jose Mourinho's 77-match unbeaten home league run as Chelsea manager.
If the reverse fixture at the Cardiff City Stadium is anything to go by, there should be shortage of entertainment. Cardiff had led 2-0 thanks to goals from Jordon Mutch and Fraizer Campbell, only for Steven Fletcher to halve the arrears in the 83rd minute, before Jack Colback levelled the score at 2-2 deep into stoppage-time.
Solskjaer has no fresh injury worries, with winger Craig Noone (abdominal) and centre-back Mark Hudson (hamstring) the only absentees. Sunderland are hoping Wickham can shake off a knock sustained against Chelsea, while Ki Sung-Yueng (knee) and Fletcher (ankle) will miss out, but full-back Phil Bardsley comes into contention after serving a suspension.
Sunderland from: Mannone, Pickford, Ustari, Alonso, Bardsley, Brown, Celustka, Cuellar, Dossena, O'Shea, Vergini, Roberge, Ba, Bridcutt, Cattermole, Colback, Gardner, Giaccherini, Johnson, Larsson, Mavrias, Altidore, Borini, Scocco, Wickham.
Cardiff City from: Lewis, Marshall, Amondarain, Caulker, Connolly, John, Fabio, McNaughton, Taylor, Theophile-Catherine, Turner, Cowie, Daehli, Eikrem, Gunnarsson, Kim, Medel, Mutch, Whittingham, Bellamy, Berget, Campbell, Jones, Smith, Zaha.
Match Appointments:
Referee: Phil Dowd. Assistants: S Ledger, M Wilkes. Fourth Official: A Taylor.