There is a bit of deja vu as Sunderland head into tonight's clash with Aston Villa.
Only a few weeks ago the Stadium of Light welcomed the claret and blue to its doors in a Carling Cup clash on a cold, wet Tuesday evening.
Villa ran out eventual winners of that tie after their keeper Brad Guzan saved three penalties in the shoot out to help his team progress to the next round.
So the Black Cats will be looking for revenge and hoping that they can get their season back on track following a minor blip where they have only picked up one point in three games.
The late goal conceded against Portsmouth was a hammer blow, but hopefully Steve Bruce will focus his team for the evening encounter and get something out of the game.
It will be difficult as Aston Villa are a tricky team full of pace and creativity, whilst they have hopes of crashing the 'top four'.
My team tonight would be:
Fulop
Nosworthy Da Silva Turner Richardson
Malbranque Henderson Cana Reid
Bent Jones
Subs: Campbell, Bardsley, Healy, Carson, McCartney, Anderson, Meyler
This may be a surprise to some as Frazier Campbell did well on Saturday and George McCartney is a specialist left back. However Malbranque offers more guile and holds the ball better, whereas Jones has linked up well with Bent and is also handy in defending set pieces. McCartney has been found out a number of times this season, he has lost his pace and is responsible for conceding a lot of goals.
Villa have doubts over Stephen Warnock, with Wilfred Bouma and Curties Davies definitely out. Therefore I don't expect them to make many changes from the team that recently beat Manchester United at Old Trafford.
I hope the result is not a case of deja vu to. I would settle for a point from tonight's match.
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