Jack Ross’ Sunderland welcome Joey Barton’s Fleetwood Town to the Stadium of Light on Saturday.
Joey Barton has never been the shy and retiring type. And all the attention is on him ahead of Sunderland’s League One clash with Fleetwood Town on Saturday afternoon.
“On the pitch is where it matters, and I don’t see a David v Goliath. If anything, I see us just better than them, man for man,” Barton, who is enjoying his first season in management with the Cod Army, said in quotes reported by The Sunderland Echo.
To his credit, Black Cats counterpart Jack Ross refused to rise to what many supporters have considered to be ‘bait’.
And while former Newcastle midfielder Barton should perhaps be credited for expressing and instilling confidence into his squad of players, the majority of Sunderland supporters seem even more determined now to come away from the Stadium of Light with three points.
Sunderland have enjoyed their finest start to a season in 20 years, winning four games out of six, although that statistic certainly has something to do with the fact that they’re facing Oxford and Gillingham rather than Liverpool or Chelsea.
Barton’s Fleetwood, however, have also enjoyed a positive start. They are just three points behind Sunderland and sit sixth.
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