Tony Mowbray named the strongest line-up available to him for tonight's FA Cup fourth round replay against Fulham. He made just one changed to the Sunderland side that started the weekend draw at Millwall, and that change was forced upon him.
On-loan Leeds United striker Joe Gelhardt was the man to drop out as he is cup-tied, and his place was taken by Abdoullah Ba. In the absence of Gelhardt, and with top scorer Ross Stewart suffering a season-ending injury in the initial meeting with Fulham ten days ago, Mowbray was left without an out-and-out centre-forward, but opted to pair Ba and Amad up front.
Sunderland's starting line-up also featured only one change to the one that had faced Fulham in the initial tie, with Ba in for Stewart. Luke O'Nien was available again after serving a three-match suspension but had to settle for a place on the bench.
READ MORE: Sunderland vs Fulham LIVE: Early team news from FA Cup replay at Stadium of Light
Also amongst the subs, Mowbray included 15-year-old Chris Rigg, who saw a 'goal' disallowed for offside at Craven Cottage ten days ago, along with two 17-year-olds in the shape of defender Zak Johnson and striker Tom Watson, and 19-year-old midfielder Caden Kelly. New signings Isaac Lihadji and Joe Anderson were not eligible, with the former not registered in time to play in the initial tie while the latter joined after the game at Craven Cottage.
Fulham boss Marco Silva made nine changes to the side that started Friday's goalless draw at Chelsea in the Premier League. Only defender Kenny Tete and midfielder Joao Palhinha were retained.
Marek Rodak, Layvin Kurzawa, Tosin Adarabioyo, Shane Duffy, Harry Wilson, Tom Cairney, Manor Solomon, Carlos Vinicius, and Luke Harris, came into the side, with Bernd Leno, Antonee Robinson, Tim Ream, Issa Diop, Andreas Pereira, Harrison Reed, Willian, Bobby De Cordova-Reid, and Aleksandar Mitrovic, making way. The Fulham side was almost the same as that which started the initial tie, with the only changes being the inclusion of Duffy and Reed instead of Pereira and Diop.
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Tonight's teams
Sunderland: Patterson, Hume, Ballard, Batth, Alese, Roberts, Michut, Neil, Clarke, Amad, Ba
Subs: Bass, O'Nien, Bennette, Pritchard, Rigg, Kelly, Ekwah, Johnson, Watson
Fulham: Rodak, Tete, Duffy, Tosin, Kurzawa, Harris, Palhinha, Wilson, Cairney, Solomon, Vinicius
Subs: Leno, Reed, Mitrovic, De Cordova-Reid, Pereira, Willian, James, Diop, Robinson
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