SUNDERLAND V MANCHESTER UNITED
PREVIEW: CARRICK LAUDS MARTIAL
FORM AHEAD OF KEY CLASHThe 20-year-old has shone in recent games
with his team-mate hoping he can continue that
form against the struggling Black Cats at the
Stadium of Light Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick
hailed the form of team-mate Anthony Martial as
his side prepare to travel to Sunderland in the
Premier League on Saturday. The 20-year-old has scored once and picked
up three assists in his last three matches in all
competitions as he impresses on the left wing.
Carrick has been hugely impressed by Martial,
who will be one of United's main threats at the
Stadium of Light in a game they have to win to
keep their top-four chances alive. Louis van Gaal's side are six points adrift of
Manchester City in fourth with 13 games
remaining, but have only lost once in their last
seven league matches going into the key clash.
"His performances have been very good,"
Carrick said of Martial to the club's official
website. "He makes it look so effortless. It
almost looks like he is not really sprinting but
he has that burst of two or three yards to get
past players. "You certainly wouldn't want to be defending
against him one-on-one in the box because
once he knocks it by you and gets that yard, he
is away! He has been so effective for us in the
last couple of games. "The amount of ability he has got is huge. The
potential is certainly there. It is easy to forget
the age he is and how little football he has
actually played as well. "To have such an impact at this stage, with the
expectations based on him and the way he's
dealt with it, has been superb." Adnan Januzaj (hamstring) and Guillermo
Varela (knock) both suffered injuries with the
Under-21 side on Monday, adding to United's
lengthy injury list, but Phil Jones (ankle)
returned to action in that game.
Sunderland are also well short of full strength,
with Adam Johnson unavailable due to his
ongoing court case. Manager Sam Allardyce also confirmed that
Younes Kaboul (ankle), Sebastian Larsson
(knee), Jeremain Lens (hernia) and Duncan
Watmore (ankle) have all been ruled out. Billy
Jones (hip) is also a doubt, but Fabio Borini
should return from illness.
Sunderland have not won in the Premier
League against United at the Stadium of Light in
13 attempts, but they could do with ending that
run as they sit 19th in the table, four points
adrift of safety despite last week's recovery to
draw 2-2 at Liverpool. Allardyce said: "It is a necessity to start winning
a few matches and then, as always, if we can't
then take the point. Hopefully that will give us
the drive and confidence to get out of trouble.
"Let's try to play as well as we did against
Manchester City [a 1-0 home defeat] and see if
we can get some points. If we can put up the
same show as we did against City, we are going
to give them a really good game. "But I would say to the players 'make sure you
get a result if you are going to give a
performance like that'. More than ever before
our life is about results rather than
performances. "I think that we are going to have to fight until
the end of the season now. There is no doubt
about that based on the amount of points we
have to catch up and the number of games left."
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SUNDERLAND vs MANCHESTER UNITED PREVIEWCreated at 2016-02-13
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