Tony Mowbray rejects the idea that Sunderland's free midweek hands them an advantage over Birmingham City ahead of tonight's televised game at St Andrew's. Birmingham were in action on Tuesday evening, with a last-minute Troy Deeney goal earning them a 2-2 draw at home to Swansea City, while the Black Cats had no fixture this week with their most recent game seeing them face Cardiff City last Saturday.
After the game on Tuesday, Blues boss John Eustace hit out at the schedulers saying: "It's not right - we play too many games in a short period of time. "To go again on Friday now, with Sunderland not playing this week, it's poor."
But Mowbray feels there is no great advantage to his side. "I don't think so," he said.
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"There's a lot talked about how much football is played, isn't there? When I watch Birmingham, if there is an advantage to be had it is that their game is very, very, intense - high pressing, high pressure - so it's whether they can replicate what they do week-in, week-out.
"For us, does it give us an advantage? Not really. We play the way we are going to play. They [Birmingham] might adapt the way they play, I'm not sure. Somebody told me that their manager had made some comments about the schedule, but it's swings and roundabouts.
"Right at the top level, one week it's Pep [Guardiola, at Manchester City] moaning about something, the next it's [Liverpool boss Jurgen] Klopp moaning about something. We have managers in the Championship moaning about stuff now!
"It's modern-day football. You can moan all you want, but the schedule is the schedule. Clubs get financial advantages by playing these TV games, so we just have to get on with it."
Tonight's game is the final match for both clubs before the World Cup break, with Sunderland's Championship campaign set to resume on Saturday, December 3, when Millwall visit the Stadium of Light.
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