Today’s piece comes from Craig Clark.

WHEN Jermain Defoe buried Sunderland’s second goal on Saturday, you could feel a weight lift around the Stadium of Light as a city breathed a sigh of relief.

A league home win at last!

The previous one, a 3-1 victory over Stoke City – can you remember it? – felt like a lifetime ago and, after disappointing results and performances on home soil against the likes of Fulham and Hull City, this was was three much-needed points for Gus Poyet and his men.

After tinkering with his side and moving to a back three in recent weeks, Poyet returned to a version of 4-3-3 or 4-1-4-1 against Burnley, with Defoe leading the line and Connor Wickham tasked with providing physical support from wide areas.

Given how atrocious Burnley’s left-back Ben Mee had been in the reverse fixture, it was no surprise to see Wickham nominally start from the right, where he was able to make his presence felt.

You can read the rest here.