Strikerless Sunderland must find a way to break down the best defence in the Championship this weekend when Preston North End arrive on Wearside. The Black Cats take on the Lancashire outfit at the Stadium of Light tomorrow as their season resumes after the international break, looking to build on their excellent away performances which saw them pick up four points on the road against Reading and Watford.
And they will come up against a Preston side with the tightest defence in the division after ten games, conceded only four goals so far and having set a new Championship record of seven consecutive clean sheets at the start of the season. Sunderland will once again go into the game without a specialist centre-forward with Ross Stewart and Ellis Simms both absent through injury, but in their absence boss Tony Mowbray has used Alex Pritchard as a false nine and in the last two games and the Black Cats scored three goals at Reading and twice at Watford.
Tomorrow's clash will be arguably even more difficult against a side with such a robust back line. "It became a story at the start of the season because Preston had four nil-nils out of five, seven clean sheets in a row, and they have conceded the fewest goals in the league over ten games," said Mowbray.
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"It's an interesting game. I know we've got no centre-forwards but we scored three against Rotherham in our last home game, then with no centre-forwards we went to Reading and scored three, then to Watford and scored twice, so it's an interesting test for us to see whether we can break down that defensive structure that Preston have obviously got in place to keep so many clean sheets."
While Preston have been defensively sound up to now, their problems have come at the other end of the pitch. They have scored just three goals in ten games, less than half the tally of the Championship's second-lowest scorers, and that means they have been unable to make the most of their defensive platform and go into tomorrow's game in 14th place - albeit they are only three points behind fifth-placed Sunderland.
Mowbray said: "They'll be working on adding goals to their game as every coach looks at the strengths and perceived weaknesses of their team. Preston was a local derby for me when I was at Blackburn and it was a hugely important game in that part of the world.
"I know what they bring, they bring intensity and desire and hard work and I'm sure they'll come to the Stadium of Light and be very difficult to break down, but we have to find a way."
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