Max Power shares prediction for Sunderland’s play-off final clash with Wycombe Wanderers | OneFootball

Later this week, Sunderland fans will travel down to England’s capital city in their thousands in the hope that they will return to the north east with their club a Championship outfit once again.

It has been four years since the Black Cats had a sole season in the second tier following their relegation from the Premier League, and what followed was a catastrophic drop into the third tier of English football.

The Wearsiders have been seeking a return to the Championship ever since and they came so close in 2019 to an immediate return, only to lose out to Charlton Athletic at Wembley in the League One play-off final.

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They will get a chance to go one better on Saturday afternoon following their two-legged success over Sheffield Wednesday, and standing in their way are Gareth Ainsworth and Wycombe Wanderers.

One player who was a part of the team that lost out to the Addicks in 2019 was Max Power, a player who moved on last summer after he secured a move back to his former club Wigan Athletic.

Despite clashing with some Black Cats fans weeks ago on social media following Wigan’s promotion to the second tier, Power is predicting his former club to put things right and return to the Championship for the first time since 2018.

“I’m not going to sit on the fence, I do think Sunderland will win the game on Saturday, there’s a few factors for me,” Power told Roker Report.

“1. The manager – Alex Neil, I think he’s been there and done it.

“I’ve watched his interviews, the way he carries himself, he looks very much like he’s in control of the whole situation, he looks like the leader of the club and I think players will draw confidence from that.

“2. I touched on before, the front four would comfortable cause problems in the division above.

“Patrick Roberts, Pritchard, Clarke, they’re all very good technical players and Ross has had a really good season and he can do a bit of everything.

“Again the fact Bailey Wright is in such good form, it’s tough to see anything but a Sunderland win.

“I don’t want to jinx it before I get everyone slating me on Twitter like usual, I’m blaming me for the evening if it doesn’t go well, I’ll turn my phone off!

“But I do see a Sunderland win but I do think Wycombe can cause anyone problems and can slow it down, make it very bitty and drag you into their type of game.”

The Verdict

Power was a solid player for Sunderland for a few years, but ultimately Lee Johnson believed that he needed better players to secure a promotion back to the Championship and released the midfielder last summer.

It’s all worked out for Power, who has won promotion once again with a club he’s very much held in high regard at in Wigan, whilst Sunderland have had to do it the hard way again and they could still find themselves in League One next season.

They are bound to find it difficult against Wycombe though, who are notorious for being very direct and stifling teams.

Sunderland did have the edge earlier in the season when winning 3-1 and it was a goal-fest in January when both sides played out a 3-3 draw at Adams Park – don’t expect it to be like that at Wembley on Saturday though as it will be very tense on the pitch between both sets of players.