Sunderland vs West Ham team news: Jack Rodwell dropped for Black Cats while Andy Carroll returns for Hammers
All you need to know ahead of the Hammers' visit to David Moyes' bottom-placed Black Cats
JERMAIN DEFOE and Victor Anichebe will link up in attack as Sunderland desperately chase victory over West Ham to keep alive their hopes of avoiding relegation.
Darron Gibson is also given a start as boss David Moyes covers for the loss of suspended Seb Larsson while Jack Rodwell has been dropped to make way for Wahbi Khazri.
West Ham have been forced into making two changes for the clash at the Stadium of Light with Michail Antonio injured and Mark Noble suspended.
Andy Carroll and Edimilson come into the starting line up in the two changes from the side that began the win over Swansea last week.
Here's all you need to know about the match . . .
MOST READ IN FOOTBALL
What TV channel is Sunderland vs West Ham?
THE match will not be shown live on TV.
You can listen to live radio coverage on BBC Radio London from 3pm, or alternatively, follow all the action and goals as they fly in on our live blog from 2.30pm.
When does Sunderland vs West Ham kick off?
SUNDERLAND vs West Ham kicks off at the Stadium of Light at 3pm on Saturday, April 15.
Form table:
Sunderland: LLLDL
West Ham: WLLLL
SunSport prediction: 0-0 draw. Sunderland ought to capitalise on West Ham's poor form, but their own is worse.
Fact me
- Sunderland are winless in their last seven league games against West Ham (D3 L4), with the last two finishing 1-0 to the Hammers.
- However, West Ham haven’t done the league double against Sunderland since the 2008/09 campaign (under Gianfranco Zola).
- Jermain Defoe has scored six goals in 15 Premier League games against his former club, but he’s yet to score against them in three appearances for Sunderland.
- Sunderland have now gone seven successive Premier League games and 675 minutes without scoring. The Premier League record is currently held by Crystal Palace in 1994-95, who went nine consecutive games and 838 minutes without a goal.
- On Saturday, it’ll be over three months since Sunderland scored a goal at home in the Premier League (January 14th) and they’ve now attempted 51 successive shots without scoring at the Stadium of Light.
- West Ham have lost 16 Premier League matches this season, already twice the number they lost in the whole of last season (8).
- Dimitri Payet (74) has still created 33 more goalscoring chances than any other West Ham United player in the Premier League this season (Lanzini - 41); despite playing his last game in the competition on January 2nd.
- Since Slaven Bilic took over as West Ham manager, the Hammers have been given a league-high nine red cards in the competition (four in 2016-17, five in 2015-16).
- West Ham (57) have conceded more Premier League goals than bottom of the league side Sunderland (56) this season. Only Swansea (67), Hull (64) and Bournemouth (59) have conceded more than these two teams.
- On the day of this game, Sunderland will have spent 224 days in the relegation zone this season. The record for a single season is held by Sheffield Wednesday in 1999-00 (278 days) and if Sunderland remain in the bottom three between now and the end of the season they can only reach 261 days in 2016-17.