NEWS FLASH: Mowbray might lessen the damage to Ekwah by now releasing Sunderland’s £7k-per-week “magician”

Sunderland: Mowbray now has the option of replacing Ekwah with magician Pierre, who costs £7k a week. Ekwah has been outstanding this season, so his injury against QPR is a major setback.

With 72% possession and 22 shots on goal, Sunderland’s dominating display against Queens Park Rangers demonstrated their possession-based aggressive style of play.
Sunderland would suffer a big loss if midfielder Pierre Ekwah is out injured since he has developed into a key member of their midfield with excellent physical and technical skills.
Alex Pritchard, who offers creativity to the club but lacks the same energizing and strong performances, will likely take Ekwah’s spot against Blackburn. This might make it more difficult for Sunderland to dominate the midfield physical struggle.

With a convincing 3-1 victory over Queens Park Rangers on Saturday, Sunderland resumed their ascent up the Championship standings.

According to Sofascore, the Black Cats had 72% possession, 407 more accurate passes, 22 shots on goal, and an xG of 2.78 as a result of Tony Mowbray’s possession-based yet deliberate attacking play, which the hosts had to contend with.

Following a 5-0 hammering of one of the favorites, Southampton, at the Kiyan Prince Foundation stadium, Sunderland will be hopeful of winning their third straight game when they visit Blackburn on Wednesday night.

It’s a common adage to stick with a winning team, but Mowbray will have to defy this convention when midfielder Pierre Ekwah was substituted in the 14th minute with a dead leg.

What kind of season has Pierre Ekwah had?
Ekwah, who appeared 14 times for Sunderland in the Championship last year in a bit-part role, has grown into a crucial component of Mowbray’s system this year.

The 21-year-old, who was one of the first names on the teammate sheet, has since established an essential combination with fellow youngster Dan Neil at the center of the Black Cats’ midfield, praising the Frenchman’s highly sought-after physical and technical qualities when previously questioned about him.

Neil said: “Yeah brilliant. He’s dynamic, he’s really strong, he’s got a great left foot on him.

“He’s been brilliant in training the last few weeks and I said to him you are going to get your chance because he’s been brilliant in training.

“With the international boys being away, Ed playing on Tuesday and it being a quick turnaround for him, this was his chance and I think he took it. I thought he was brilliant.”

Stamping his mark on proceedings superbly since being given regular opportunities to impress, Ekwah has featured in all of Sunderland’s matches so far, averaging 7.3 ball recoveries per game, 1.7 tackles, recording a pass completion of 90%, via Sofascore, and even scored two well-taken goals in the victory over Southampton.

Ahead of their trip to Ewood Park, Mowbray is hopeful that he could be fit, although it seems unlikely. As such, Sunderland will desperately miss the 6 foot 2 titans presence in the engine room without having a direct replacement for his strength, power and all-action displays, leaving Mowbray with a crucial decision to make.

Who could replace Pierre Ekwah vs Blackburn?

In his pre-match interview, Mowbray confirmed that his side had been hit with a double injury blow, leaving them without two of their most influential figures, Bradley Dack and Ekwah.

While Jobe Bellingham can continue in his advanced midfield role in the absence of Dack, the task of choosing someone to play in the double pivot is much more difficult to resolve, with the likely candidate being Alex Pritchard.

The 30-year-old performed admirably after coming on and replacing Ekwah against QPR, placing 86% of his passes accurately, crossing eight times, blocking two shots and making two tackles, as per Sofascore.

Pritchard is more readily known for the creativity he brings to the party, rather than the energetic and robust performances of Ekwah, but he can still do a job of keeping it neat and tidy in that deep-lying role while letting Neil do the dirty work, that is unless Bellingham drops into the deeper role and lets the former operate more advanced.

In the Championship last season, the £7k per-week Prichard has showcased how crucial of an influence he can have in the final third, ranking in the top 20% for progressive passes, the best 16% for assists, the upmost 5% for shot-creating actions and top 5% for key passes when compared against his positional peers per 90, via FBref.

If he can bring those creative metrics to the party against Blackburn, he will be a threat on the counter-attack but without having the energy and dynamism of Ekwah, they could lose the physical battle against the likes of Lewis Travis and Adam Wharton.