Sunderland are hoping that they can finish the season in style.

After an excellent campaign to date the Black Cats will be firmly focused on continuing their fine form in the coming weeks as they look to tie up promotion once and for all.

If they're to do that they'll need all of their players to step up to the plate.

One man who has really come of age in recent months is Dion Sanderson.

The 21-year-old defender joined on a season-long loan back in September and has certainly showed real improvements over the months with the centre-back now considered a first team regular.

We took to Wyscout to have a look at his campaign in more detail.

What a season it has been for Dion Sanderson.

The central defender started just two matches under Phil Parkinson and looked like a loan signing that might struggle to make any real impact, but under Lee Johnson things have significantly changed.

Sanderson has made 21 appearances in total for the club this term, with 13 of them coming in the starting line-up.

To say that his presence in defence has transformed the Black Cats is an understatement.

In the 13 matches where he has been named in the starting XI Sunderland have conceded just 12 goals which equates to less than one per game.

It's that sort of defensive record that has seen the club fly to the upper echelons of the League One table.

But if you look at Sanderson's numbers in more detail you start to see why he's been such a key man.

Lee Johnson's side like to play out from the back and with the 21-year-old holding an 87.2% pass accuracy it's not hard to see why with his numbers among the best at the club.

 

 

But defensively he's one of the best as well.

Sanderson has won 68.2% of his defensive duels - meaning that he comes out on top at least two times out of three.

That's also down to the number of interceptions that he makes with the defender averaging 3.81 interceptions per game.

With numbers like that it's no surprise that Dion Sanderson continues to be linked with life at a higher level.

The 21-year-old looks set for life in the Premier League and it'll be interesting to see what Wolves decide to do with him as they seek to continue his development.