Leroy gives his Irons v Sunderland verdict

Tomorrow is not going to be pretty on or off the pitch with Sam Allardyce returning to Upton Park after having perhaps  little too much to say for himself in the days building up to the game.

But at the of the day it’s all about three points and I am backing the Irons to pick them up but only just because make no mistake Sam will set up to nick a point .

He will probably go with a 4-1-4-1 formation with the midfield sitting no more than 10-15 yards in front of the back four, it’s going to be tight and ugly but we can nick it – JUST!

It means we will need to be quick and clever whenever we get towards their penalty area – there will be a lot of sideways and backwards movement as we probe.

It’s going to be hard but one moment of magic from Payet or Lanzini could  be the key to a match which has an awful lot surrounding it – for many reasons the Irons really want this one.

I can see Sam sending Lee Cattermole to man mark Payet and if that’s the case our top man can expect to find himself on the end of some rattling challenges.

But that may be another thing in our favour because we will undoubtedly win free kicks around the box and we have players who can deliver-notably Payet.

Jermain Defoe – with 13 goals this season – remains a threat and Wahbi Kazri -is a threat down the left for them but we are a very good side and I expect us to have breached them before the end of the 90 minutes.