Pleased to see that Sunderland are at QPR tomorrow night in the last 16 of the EFL (League) Cup. Whereas we have a home game that nobody really cares about and can give the majority of Saturdays starting eleven a complete rest and others only 45 minutes, they have a long trip and a winnable game with a chance to get through to the last eight of a major cup competition. I think Lee Johnson will probably feel obliged to play his strongest side or close to it. It all probably helps us for this weekend. I hope Sunderland beat QPR by the way - apart from this weekend I generally like to see them do well. In fact I hope they join us in the top two this season. It's a fantastic football club.
Good point about Q.P.R game smiler. On Saturday Johnson stated as one of the reasons they lost to Charlton was possibly the amount of cups they were involved in.
It may not be a decisive factor, but I will take any competitive edge we can get. At this level a 2% drop off in performance levels can have a disproportionately significant impact on a result.
Well done to Sunderland for getting past QPR on penalties. They made a few personnel changes and sadly there was no extra time, so maybe that fixture wont impact on this Saturdays game as much is it might otherwise have done. Its a great achievement getting through to the late stages of a major cup comp as a league one club.
