Sunderland handed fortunate boost ahead of Newcastle United clash later this month
Newcastle United meet Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on 14th December for the first derby of the season.
In what has been a weird season so far, Newcastle go into this one potentially as underdogs. The Magpies' away form has been shocking this season and if it weren't for the win at Everton on Saturday, we'd have been going down the A19 with zero away wins in the Premier League.
Sunderland are sitting nicely in the top half of the table as Newcastle threw away their chance to join them last night, conceding a 95th-minute goal against Tottenham, which saw them give up six Premier League places.
Still, Newcastle had the advantage that so many of Sunderland's stars would have left Wearside to join up with their country as the African Cup of Nations tournament gets underway.
Sunderland's AFCON representatives don't need to head off until after the derby
Well, now that advantage has been taken away from us as FIFA have confirmed that players partaking in the AFCON don't need to fly out until the 15th December, the day after the derby, as reported in The Shields Gazette.
Sunderland have seven players heading to the AFCON, and that would have taken a sizeable chunk out of Regis Le Bris' options for the derby, but now he's going to have his whole squad to choose from.
On the plus side, that just removes an excuse that the Mackems can use when we batter them on the day.
Newcastle have avoided any AFCON disruption
Newcastle had just one player due to head off to the AFCON in Yoane Wissa, but the 29-year-old has agreed to stay behind and repay his new club's faith.
Wissa hasn't yet made an appearance for Newcastle since his £55 million move from Brentford in the summer, and it would have gone down like a lead balloon if he returned from injury and immediately jetted off for a month of internationals.
Thinking about the derby after watching Newcastle throw away two points on Tuesday night is making me shudder, if I'm being honest. A big win over Burnley is definitely needed on Saturday, and then a solid performance in Germany against Bayer Leverkusen. Get that confidence up so we can march into Sunderland and do what needs to be done.
