Jermain Defoe fit for Stoke game, says Sunderland boss

The formation worked on Monday night as the Black Cats beat Crystal Palace, though Sunderland were previously dispatched 6-2 at Everton in the same system.

Sam Allardyce insists he is not “ashamed” of his tactics, and has suggested he will trust his current Sunderland players rather than buying in January. “The most important thing for us is it looks like Jermain is going to be fit and having the full squad fit is always extremely important to your team and your selection process, having the availability of players to maybe adjust what you do or tweak what you do to try to win the next game”.

“The biggest problem for me was how to get Steven Fletcher and Jermain Defoe into the same starting line-up”.

Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce says his side are “still sinking” in the Premier League ahead of Saturday’s clash against Stoke City despite their victory over Crystal Palace on Monday night.

Watmore recently signed a new four-year deal at the club which will keep him on Wearside until the summer of 2020.

“We know what Jermain can do in front of goal and, hopefully, if we can get him and Fletch on the same pitch together more often we know they’ll cause teams problems”.

“We’re still sinking at the minute, although we’ve given ourselves a little bit of hope by what we’ve achieved at Palace”. But we need to get these clean sheets and if we can do that we’ll definitely create chances.

“Last year we had plenty of clean sheets and with that kind of commitment and desire we will stay up”.

Stoke have not conceded in their three league games since captain Ryan Shawcross returned from a back injury and their impressive defending stands them in good stead to end a poor record against Saturday’s hosts. “It was a massive win”.

“The only games we’ve won, we kept clean sheets”.

Fabio Borini could be back in contention for a place against Stoke.