Rowell Report: Refreshed Sunderland need to put in a Good performance away at Everton

Tiredness won’t be tolerated as an excuse now, and whatever happens at Goodison Park, win, lose or draw, the sell out away fans will demand a performance full of commitment, energy and passion.

With so many of the squad having Everton connections, they should know Goodison like the back of their hands and must have the desire to show the Everton faithful they still have what it takes.

Off the field too the link with Everton is strong, with manager David Moyes in charge there for a decade and his assistant Paul Bracewell, winning titles with the Toffees in the 80s.

So, Everton is in the blood of so many of the Sunderland players and staff, and they must use that knowledge and experience as motivation to get Sunderland the points we crave.

Everton, though, are a team on the up, they’re in good form, scoring six goals in their last home game, with Romelu Lukaku scoring four.

Lukaku was also our tormentor-in-chief with a hat-trick against us earlier in the season, and if Sunderland are to have any chance, Lamine Kone has to be at his best.

The Lukaku-Kone dual could be the key and worth watching as whoever comes out on top of that heavyweight clash, could well determine the outcome of the game.

David Moyes will be weighing up what tactics and systems to use, as in the last game he started with three centre-backs, but after conceding twice he withdrew John O’shea and played the second half with a flat back four, but conceded two more.

However, in the two games before, Sunderland kept clean sheets playing the three centre back system, and I have a feeling he’ll go back to that.

Whatever the team or system Moyes selects on Saturday, I can’t see anything but the toughest of games as Everton have also had a two-week break and been seventh in the table will see the visit of the league’s bottom team as a big chance for three points as they push for Europe.