As our recent Watchlist Updated article announced, the upcoming gameweeks looks considerably kind for Steve Bruce’s Sunderland. The Black Cats may be sitting just a point above the drop zone but a glance at the fixture schedule offers promise for the Wearsiders.
Central to our thoughts is Keiren Westwood. The summer signing from Coventry City has been propelled to first-choice keeper right now as a result of Simone Mignolet’s long-term absence with a fractured eye socket. With the Belgian expected to be sidelined for months after a collision with Emile Heskey in the gameweek ten clash with Aston Villa, and with Craig Gordon still unavailable due to a knee problem, Westwood made his first start for the Black Cats away to Man United last weekend. Despite a 1-0 loss, he excelled between the posts, with 6 saves defying the champions time and again.
In particular, Sunderland’s next run of four games stand out. First they play host to Fulham, a team that have scored 3 goals and collected a single win from their five road trips this term. Bruce’s side are at home for the next game, too, as basement-dwellers Wigan travel up to the Stadium of Light; the Latics have scored twice and picked up a single point from six away games.
Following that is a trip to Wolves, with Mick McCarthy’s side struggling after a run of games that has seen them record one win in the previous nine. Westwood and co then have a home showdown with Steve Kean’s Blackburn, with the out of sorts Lancashire outfit picking up just three points away from home all season.
At 4.4 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL) and with a mere 0.5% ownership, Westwood offers a cut-price route into the Sunderland back line right now. There’s clean sheet potential on the cards, then, and as he showed at Old Trafford, Westwood has the ability to rack up the save points even in the event of an opposition goal.
