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ALAN HUTTON is relishing lining up against his old boss Alex McLeish when Sunderland host Birmingham tomorrow.
The Spurs defender, who is on loan at the Stadium of Light until the end of the season, worked under McLeish for five years at Glasgow Rangers until 2006 and earned his first senior international cap when the Ibrox boss took over the Scotland job the following year.
Now McLeish is in charge of Birmingham and has brought a contingent of Scots to St Andrew's, including striker James McFadden and midfielder Barry Ferguson.
STEVE Bruce will look to turn Alan Hutton's loan move from Tottenham Hotspur into a permanent switch at the end of the season.
Hutton has impressed during his short time on Wearside, and the Scotland international is thought to favour a long-term move to the Black Cats, rather than return to White Hart Lane after the last game of his loan spell at Wolverhampton Wanderers in May.
Sunderland do not have the best relationship with Spurs because of a series of rows during Darren Bent's frustratingly protracted move to Wearside last summer.
SUSPENDED skipper Lorik Cana admits inconsistent refereeing has proved a major frustration in his first season in England.
The Sunderland midfielder will sit out this weekend's game against Birmingham as he completes a two-match ban for accumulating 10 yellow cards this season.
Cana knows his role as a ball-winner will inevitably lead to suspensions over the course of the campaign, but he feels he has been harshly treated by referees on some occasions this season.
IT may have taken them more than three months to work it out, but Fraizer Campbell says the solution to Sunderland's slump was an allusively simple one.
Campbell's best form at Sunderland on the right wing has coincided with a vast improvement in the team's performances during the win over Bolton and last weekend's draw with Manchester City.
And the former Manchester United prospect argued that the answer to the problem of 14 games without a win was always within their grasp - they just needed to remember what a good side they are.
A SWITCH to the left flank for Steed Malbranque could become permanent, with Sunderland boss Steve Bruce admitting the change has brought the best out of his French international.
Malbranque has spent most of his Black Career on the right, but injuries to Kieran Richardson and Andy Reid forced Bruce to move the 30-year-old to the opposite wing.
The switch has paid off, with Malbranque outstanding in Sunderland's 4-0 win over Bolton and the 1-1 draw with Manchester City.
SUNDERLAND chief executive Steve Walton has admitted the club would consider selling sponsorship rights for the Stadium of Light.
The Black Cats have been approached in the past about changing the name of the stadium but have not felt comfortable with the proposals. But Walton, who has had a big influence on the business since taking the job 12 months ago, insisted it is not something they can afford to rule out in the future.
Indeed, given the name of the ground, Walton admitted the prospect of selling naming rights to a power company was an alluring one.
LORIK CANA believes in-form Darren Bent can go on to become a world-class striker.
Bent notched the first Premier League hat-trick of his career in Sunderland's 4-0 romp against Bolton a week ago, taking his haul for the season to 19 in all competitions - with all but one of those goals coming in the league.
Those goals make him the second-highest scoring Englishman in the Premier League so far, with only Manchester United's Wayne Rooney ahead of him with 25.
JOHN Mensah has paid tribute to the Sunderland medical staff for helping to rescue his season.
The Ghana defender has been plagued by injuries since joining the Black Cats, but a carefully devised training schedule has helped him to make four successive appearances - his best run since joining the club.
Although his fitness problems have not been banished completely, it represents serious progress for a player who was not capable of playing back-to-back games for the first few months of the season.
CRAIG GORDON says Sunderland's cotton-wool treatment is getting the best out of John Mensah.
On-loan Lyon man Mensah has been a rock at the heart of Sunderland's defence in recent weeks, helping the Black Cats keep three clean sheets in their last four home games - with only Adam Johnson's injury-time equaliser for Manchester City yesterday preventing the Wearsiders making it four shut-outs out of four.
Mensah has been plagued by injury problems since his move to England and that has restricted him to just a dozen league appearances so far, but Sunderland's medical team have now devised a training regime which allows the Ghana skipper to take it easy during the week to ensures he is ready for matchdays.
SUNDERLAND boss Steve Bruce was left once again cursing the Black Cats' misfortune after losing three points at the death to a player he tried desperately to sign in January - and key man Kenwyne Jones to injury for a month.
Bruce saluted Sunderland for producing their "best performance in weeks" to leave Manchester City's expensively assembled side floundering, but could not hide his frustration that another late goal had denied them victory.
Sunderland picked up where they left off in midweek with a barnstorming first half performance, and led for 83 minutes after Jones nodded Steel Malbranque's precise cross.
Recent Comments
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