This was a rematch of the first meeting between the two teams, and manager Marco Silva rotated his lineup to some extent, with mainstays such as center forward Mitrovic, goalkeeper Leno, back Reid and winger William all on the bench. In the end, the team drew 1-1 at home with a certain advantage on the field.
In this rematch, there are some new circumstances on Sunderland's side, in last weekend's 1-1 draw, the main left back Thurkin, who came on as a substitute, hit his head first in a scramble for the top of the pitch, and will ironically miss tonight; in addition, the center forward Gearhart, center back Joe Anderson, and winger Leighighighigh, who were all brought in by the team in the winter window, are ineligible to play; at the same time, Sunderland's top scorer, Stuart, is the same player who left the game in the first round against Fulham in a serious injury, and his season was prematurely ended. Meanwhile, Sunderland's top scorer Stewart left the game against Fulham in the first leg with a serious injury, and his season ended prematurely, as did the two starting midfielders, Embleton and Corey Evans. The only good news is that the team's star midfielder, O'Nien, is able to return from a three-game suspension.
Fulham drew 0-0 on the road last weekend, and the team failed to score in 3 consecutive EPL matches, but conceded no more than 1 goal in the past 4 matches. At present, Fulham and Sunderland are both ranked in the middle of the league, and there is not much pressure on the league results. In the winter window Fulham signed wingback Cedric and midfielder Lukic, but this is a rematch, and the two were not Fulham's players at the time of the first round meeting, so the rematch is not available. Meanwhile, team manager Marco Silva is unable to direct the game from the sidelines due to his fourth yellow card of the season against Chelsea.
