It's been a chaotic week for Sunderland who sacked manager Simon Grayson ahead of their Tees-Wear derby against Middlesbrough on Sunday. A draw against bottom of the table Bolton kept the Black Cats in the relegation zone and extended their winless home run in 2017.

Therefore, the board wasted no time in removing the former Preston manager and have placed Robbie Stockdale and Billy McKinlay in caretaker charge for the game at the Riverside. And, one of the first moves they should make is bringing back Duncan Watmore into the starting XI for Sunday's game.

The player, rated at £2.7m by Transfermarkt, was restricted to just half an hour in the 3-3 draw on Tuesday but has to be one of the first names on the team sheet at Boro. In fairness, Grayson may have left the hard-working forward out because he can't play two games in a few days after his lengthy lay-off, but it won't impact the caretaker pair.

Watmore is enthusiastic and energetic and it can rub off on the other players. In the heat of a derby you want players who are going to give their all and that's what you get from the 23-year old. As well as that, he also has enough quality to make the team, whether it's on the right or up front.

You would imagine Sunderland will set up to counter and frustrate the hosts, who boast several quality players at this level. The Black Cats will sit deep and try to spring forward and Watmore's pace could be the key to that tactic working.

It's going to be a huge task for the Wearside club to get anything from the game, so they will need everyone putting in a big shift and Watmore can set the tone for that with his relentless style.

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