Sunderland will travel to the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Sunday to face Everton in their final away game of the Premier League season.
Everton midfielder Tim Iroegbunam has described Sunday’s home clash with Sunderland as ‘an important game’ as the Toffees look to remain in the push for European places during the final week of the season.
David Moyes’ men are sitting in tenth place in the Premier League table ahead of their meeting with his former club and are just one point and two places above the Black Cats. Both clubs have some hope of landing a place in European competition next season - although they are also relying on results elsewhere falling in their favour as they look to round off impressive campaigns. However, they have both stuttered in recent weeks after Sunderland followed up successive defeats against Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa with draws against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester United. Similarly, Everton have not claimed all three points since a 3-0 home win against Chelsea just under two months ago after drawing three and losing two of their five games.
For former Aston Villa midfielder Iroegbunam, the campaign has been something of a slow burner as he has struggled to nail down a regular place in Moyes’ starting lineup throughout the season. However, an injury to Idrissa Gueye has provided him with an opening over the last fortnight and he has played the entire 90 minutes of draws with title contenders Manchester City and Europa Conference League finalists Crystal Palace during that time.
The former England youth international is expected to retain his place for Sunday’s meeting with Sunderland and he is going into the game full of confidence after his recent outings.
He told the club website: “With the performance against City, I feel like just the more you play, you get more confidence. I feel that's the thing with everyone. Hopefully, I just keep stepping on and keep playing well and keep working hard so that I can give it all for this team and do what I can do. You can tell how much the fans love the club. Every time we play at home, the fans are there, getting behind us. I think it's important for us to give them a performance. So, yes, it’s definitely an important game.”
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