Le Bris must make ‘simple’ Milan Aleksic decision for Sunderland v Sheff Weds
Sunderland travel to Sheffield Wednesday on Friday evening for an away encounter against the Owls and Regis Le Bris has an easy decision to make.
With automatic promotion now seemingly out of sight, Sunderland need to build some momentum for the playoffs starting with their encounter against Wednesday.
Following two defeats on the bounce, matched with the latest set of injury blows at Sunderland, clouds of concern have started to cast a negative shadow on the Wearsiders that will only grow bigger should they fail to win.
In order to prevent that from happening, Le Bris has to make a decision that he’s been trying to avoid throughout the entirety of the current campaign.
Aleksic has to start for Sunderland v Sheffield Wednesday
Having joined Sunderland for a reasonable amount of money in the summer, Milan Aleksic has barely featured for the Black Cats and this Friday serves as the perfect opportunity to change that.
Chris Rigg has shown signs of fatigue in recent weeks and, despite his importance to the team, he needs to be taken out of the spotlight temporarily to prevent burnout.
| Championship table (4th-7th) | W | D | L | P |
| Sunderland | 17 | 11 | 6 | 62 |
| West Brom | 12 | 15 | 7 | 51 |
| Blackburn | 15 | 6 | 13 | 51 |
| Coventry | 14 | 8 | 12 | 50 |
On the odd occasion, Aleksic has featured, there have been plenty of positive signs, though he has failed to find any consistency as a result of the fact he hasn’t been afforded a prolonged period in the team.
Rotation will be crucial as we approach the latter stage of the season and if Le Bris wants to prevent further injuries from occurring, he simply has to start making changes.
Sheffield Wednesday encounter is a must-win for Sunderland
While, in terms of the table, three points won’t do an awful lot for the Mackems, it will prevent their winless run from entering its third game, and potentially keep them close enough to Sheffield United to have a chance of a top-two finish. Though they will be slim.
Momentum will be paramount if the Black Cats are to find success through the playoffs, but playing the same players over and over again will severely hamper their ability to maintain that.
Sunderland have more than enough quality in their squad to secure all three points on Friday night and get back on track for promotion.