Blackpool boss says pressure is on Cats – who are monitoring Dion

Blackpool manager Neil Critchley believes Sunderland could be under a ‘little bit of pressure’ to bounce back from successive defeats when they head to Bloomfield Road on Saturday.

The Black Cats have lost to Charlton and Wigan Athletics in their last two outings, with their automatic promotion hopes dented as a result.

And while Critchley believes Sunderland arguably have one of the strongest squads in the division, he has urged his Blackpool side to ‘go for it’ this weekend.

"You never know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing,” he said,whenquizzedonSunderland’s stuttering form.

“Good teams don’t often lose twice on the bounce, but they are a good team. You only have to look at the strength of their depth, it is arguably the strongest in the division when you look at who they’ve got on thebench.It’swhatyouclassas anautomaticpromotionteam.

“To lose two on the bounce, they won’t want to make it a hat-trick, but maybe there is a little bit of pressure on them as well.

“We can look forward to a really good game on Saturday and we can go for it.”

Blackpool will be forced into at least one change for the clash with the Wearsiders, with on-loan midfielder Elliot Embleton ineligible to face his parent club.

“He will be a miss because he’s been excellent in the last few games,” Critchley told The Blackpool Gazette.

“He took a knock towards theendofthegameonTuesday night (a 0-0 draw against Accrington Stanley) and he’s got some ice on his knee, so hopefully that’s not too serious.

“He carried on though and he didn’t look in too much bother.

“He’s been excellent for us, but I shall have to think about what he’s going to do for the next few days when we’re putting our plan together - I might havetomakesurehe’ssittingin a dark room somewhere.”

Meanwhile, Sunderland will assess Dion Sanderson’s back injury ahead of their promotion run-in.

The Wolves loanee played the full 90 minutes against Wigan on Tuesday evening.

But Lee Johnson conceded after the game that the youngster had complained of a back issue in the build-up to the fixture.

"DionSanderson'sbackhas beenanissueallweek,”hesaid.

"We were a little bit light in that area, but at the same time I don’t think that’s any excuse becauseitwasn’treallycentral defence that cost us."