Sunderland must unleash Luke O’Nien vs QPR

Sunderland are again in Championship motion this afternoon with a house conflict in opposition to Queens Park Rangers.

The Black Cats suffered a disappointing 2-0 defeat in opposition to Sheffield Wednesday within the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, after managing to choose up their first league win of the season final weekend.

On the chalkboard

Now that Alex Neil’s facet are again in league motion in entrance of their house followers, this shall be the easiest way for them to place their midweek defeat behind them and proceed selecting up factors within the Championship.

When it comes to what Neil’s beginning XI may appear like, one determine that was concerned within the defeat in opposition to Wednesday that we really feel needs to be in from the start on this event is Luke O’Nien.

After approaching as a second-half substitute in Sunderland’s 1-1 draw in opposition to Coventry Metropolis, the midfielder was an unused substitute in final weekend’s win over Bristol Metropolis.

The 27-year-old then completed the total 90 minutes in opposition to Wednesday in midweek and put in a efficiency that can have given his supervisor a query to ask over whether or not he retains his place within the crew this time round for his first league begin of the marketing campaign.

Towards the Yorkshire membership, the Englishman, who has been hailed as a “revelation” previously by Jack Ross, had 81 touches of the ball in complete and accomplished 50 of the 55 passes he tried, with two key passes and one shot heading in the right direction beneath his belt.

Ought to Luke O’Nien begin in opposition to QPR?

From a defensive standpoint, O’Nien gained 14 of the 16 duels he was concerned in, in addition to making one clearance, three interceptions and 7 tackles, which is extra tackles than another Black Cats participant managed to make on the day.

This show finally earned him a powerful total match score of seven.9/10 from SofaScore, making him the highest-rated Sunderland participant on the day, even increased than the likes of Elliot Embleton, who has appeared in each of the Black Cats’ opening two league video games of the season.

Transferring ahead, with right now’s opponents boasting the third-best fee for objectives per shot (0.21) within the division, having somebody with O’Nien’s defensive attributes within the crew may very well be the easiest way for Sunderland to choose up a optimistic outcome.