Crewe 0 Sunderland 4: Story of the night following Terell Thomas own goal, Ross Stewart double and Leon Dajaku strike

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After a bit of a shaky start, the Black Cats took a two-goal lead before half-time following a Terrell Thomas own goal and Ross Stewart header.

Stewart added his second goal of the match from a corner after the break, before substitute Leon Dajaku netted a fourth.

The result means Lee Johnson’s side have moved up to second in the table, and have two games in hand on Plymouth ahead of them.

Here’s how the game played out.

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RECAP: Crewe 0 Sunderland 4 (Thomas, OG, 25) (Stewart, 32, 55) (Dajaku, 73)

Key Events

Sunderland XI: Hoffmann, Winchester, Flanagan, Doyle, Cirkin (Hume, 65), O’Nien, Neil, McGeady (Wright, 75), Pritchard (Dajaku, 58), O’Brien, Stewart
Subs: Burge, Younger, Wright, Hume, Dajaku, Wearne, Harris
Crewe XI: Jaaskelainen, Ramsey, Thomas, Offord, Daniels, McFadzean, Murphy, Long (Gomes, 60), Robertson, Bennett (Kashket, 60), Mandron
Subs: Richards, Adebisi, Finney, Gomes, Sass-Davies, Kashket, Porter

Tue, 19 Oct, 2021, 18:45 BST

Predicted line-ups

Here’s how we think both sides could start this evening.

Predicted Sunderland XI: (4-2-3-1) Hoffmann; Winchester, Flanagan, Doyle, Cirkin; O’Nien, Neil; McGeady, Pritchard, O’Brien; Stewart

Predicted Crewe XI: (5-2-3) Jaaskelainen; Ramsay, Offord, Daniels, Thomas, Adebisi; Robertson, Murphy; Kashket, Mandron, Bennett

Tue, 19 Oct, 2021, 14:34 BST

The inside track on Crewe

Sunderland supporters may want to forget the names Mikael Mandron and Callum McFadzean, yet the former Black Cats players could start for Crewe this evening.

To find out more about the Alex and their poor start to teh season, we caught up with Stuart Price from The Railwaymen Podcast to get the inside track.

Here’s what he had to say about the players to watch: “I think if I had to pick someone, maybe a couple of the loan signings, firstly, J’Neil Bennett – on loan from Spurs. He’s a pacy winger, who is able to pull off a trick or two. He’s shown it in fits and starts so far, but he’s very young. This is his first loan spell, and he’s in a struggling team. Fun fact, he was the first player to score a goal at the new Spurs stadium.”

“The other loan signing would be Scott Robertson, from Celtic. He has all the attributes to become a top class centre midfielder, however, again, he is in a struggling team and is having to learn how he can influence games with the team scrapping for points.”

How the visitors are shaping up

After finishing 12th in League One last season, Crewe have won just one of their 12 league games so far this season.

The Alex were beaten 3-0 at Fleetwood last time out and manager David Artell has called for a reaction tonight.

“The fixtures come thick and fast in the EFL and League One is tough. There are 11, 12 teams thinking about promotion and play-offs and we know there are some big clubs at this level,” said Artell.

“That is what we worked so hard on to achieve to play teams like Sunderland again. Saturday, it is a trip to Wycombe, who were a Championship side last season. They are all difficult games but that is the challenge. It is up to us to embrace the challenge and have the belief that we can match these teams and take points off them. There is no reason why we cannot do that if we hit the levels we need to.

“The challenge is there. Sunderland will be many people’s favourites for promotion and we have to rise to that challenge. We have to match our standard because if we dip below it, like we did at Fleetwood then we will get a performance like we did on Saturday.

He added: “I am hoping that with the home fans and the atmosphere the Sunderland fans will help generate, will see our players rise to the challenge.”

Tue, 19 Oct, 2021, 14:07 BSTUpdated 14:09 BST

“We’ll find a solution says Johnson

Here’s what the Sunderland boss said following Saturday’s win at Gillingham when asked about Embleton’s three-game suspension:

“We just can’t afford to lose a player with seven out, obviously in wide areas as well.

“I suppose the one thing is the young players have done exceptionally well in the Papa John’s Trophy and I felt confident in putting Will on because of his performances.

“We’ll find a solution, tactically we are quite flexible and it’s just about getting rested up now and going into a completely different style of game against Crewe but no less tough.”

Tue, 19 Oct, 2021, 14:04 BST

Team news

Johnson was without several of his first-team players at Gillingham on Saturday.

Aiden McGeady missed his second successive league game with an ankle issue but could return this evening.

Leon Dajaku has travelled with the squad and could also be available after picking up a thigh issue.

Lynden Gooch (foot) remains a doubt for tonight’s match, as does Corry Evans (calf), while Frederik Alves has been managing a glute problem.

Nathan Broadhead is still coming back from a hamstring injury, while Niall Huggins (back) will be sidelined until the end of the year.

Elliot Embleton will serve the first match of his three-game suspension following his red card against Gillingham.

Tue, 19 Oct, 2021, 13:56 BST

It’s Matchday!

Sunderland are back in action this evening with Lee Johnson’s side set to face Crewe at the Mornflake Stadium.

The Black Cats will be hoping to keep up their momentum following Saturday’s 2-1 win at Gillingham, yet Lee Johnson is set to be without several of his first-team players.

We’ll have all the build-up ahead of the match, as well as in-game analysis and post-match reaction.