Ex-EFL Star Warns Sunderland Of Level Needed For West Brom Trip | OneFootball

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Former EFL winger Adrian Clarke feels that Sunderland will need to be at the top of their game to beat West Brom this weekend, even though the Black Cats are 15 points clear of the Baggies in the Championship.

The Black Cats are having an impressive season under Regis Le Bris and they looked like one of the favourites for automatic promotion earlier this season.

Now, however, they have to do it the hard way, through the Championship playoffs, if they want to play in the Premier League next season, as the likes of Leeds United, Sheffield United, and Burnley are head and shoulders above in the league table.

On Saturday, they are set to visit the Hawthorns to play West Brom, who are sitting sixth in the league table, managed by former Black Cats boss Tony Mowbray.

Sunderland have some injury concerns at the moment and Clarke stressed that it is a good time for the Baggies to play the Black Cats.

The Baggies are 15 points below Sunderland, which Clarke believes will not show in the games, and he stated Le Bris’ men need to play very well to get the better of Mowbray’s side.

“It will be a good, interesting game”, Clarke said on What The EFL (37:00) about Sunderland’s trip to the Hawthorns on Saturday.

“It is a good time maybe to play Sunderland, [they are] not at their very best, are they?

“I think it will not look like that, there are 15 points between these two.

“In fact, I will go as far as to say that Sunderland will have to play very well to win this game.”

West Brom, though, have not won any of their last three league games, while Sunderland picked up a 1-0 win against Millwall last weekend.

The two teams met at the Stadium of Light back in November, where they shared the spoils in a 0-0 draw.