Joe Nicholson has claimed on The Roar podcast that Danny Batth and Dan Ballard will be crucial for Sunderland against Millwall.
The Lowdown: Sunderland up against it
Sunderland are set to face one of the most in-form teams when it comes to playing at home this season with Millwall losing just two games in the Championship thus far.
As if that wasn't a difficult enough task already, the fact that Sunderland are set to be without their top scorer in the form of Ross Stewart is a monumental blow for Tony Mowbray who will be relying on youngster Joe Gelhardt.
Mowbray will indeed be able to once again call upon Batth and Ballard who will be very important as Sunderland look to keep Millwall at bay from set pieces as they've scored the most from dead-ball scenarios in the league.
The Latest: Millwall dangerous from set pieces
Batth and Ballard are six foot two and six foot one respectively, so Nicholson believes they will be key to Sunderland not shipping goals from set piece this weekend.
He said: (17:20) "Yeah that's been a concern for Sunderland in the past, set pieces, especially earlier in the season when they had lots of injuries and now they've lost Stewart for the season while he's a striker, he is quite effective in his own penalty area clearing corners.
"They've now got Danny Batth back from injury and Dan Ballard they've played the last two and formed what looks like a good partnership, so that could be really important with Millwall kind of posing that threat from set pieces, that's definitely one to watch out for."
The Verdict: Mowbray faces a tough test
Given that Sunderland currently boast the youngest squad on average in the Championship, it will be a huge ask for them to go away to The Den that's likely to be sold out given limited tickets are left on sale, and pick up a positive result.
This is mainly because Millwall are indeed higher in the table than Sunderland, very rarely lose at home and will be right up for revenge after the Black Cats inflicted a 3-0 defeat on them earlier in the season.
All teams will be gutted when they concede from set pieces as they're very cheap goals to be given away and Mowbray will surely have been doing his work on the training pitch to scheme up a way to combat Millwall's obvious threat from dead-ball situations.