While Leeds United slumped to a defeat to Southampton at St. Mary’s Stadium in the Championship on Saturday afternoon, one of their former players, Jack Clarke, helped Sunderland to an easy win against Sheffield Wednesday on the road on Friday evening.
Both Leeds United and Sunderland are aiming to finish in the top two of the Championship table this season and win automatic promotion to the Premier League.
Sunderland are fourth in the standings at the moment with 16 points from nine matches.
The Black Cats are six points behind Ipswich Town in second.
Leeds are way down in ninth with 13 points from nine games.
On Saturday afternoon, Leeds went down 3-1 to Southampton.
It was a poor performance from Daniel Farke’s side.
On Friday evening, Sunderland got the better of Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 away from hom
Jack Clarke was among the goalscorers for the Black Cats.
The winger found the back of the net first in the eighth minute and then scored from the penalty on 31 minutes.
The 22-year-old is now the joint-top scorer in the Championship with seven goals from nine matches.
Clarke has become a goal machine at Sunderland.
Having failed to make a huge impact at Tottenham Hotspur, the winger moved to the Stadium of Light on a permanent deal in 2022 after a loan spell with the Black Cats.
Last season, the English youngster scored nine goals and gave 12 assists in the Championship.
It does now look very likely that Clarke will surpass the goal-tally of last season with ease this time around.
Leeds sold Clarke to Tottenham in the summer of 2019 for £8.5 million (Sky Sports).
Clarke was 18 at the time.
He has progressed a lot in recent times and is a much better and more mature player now.
And, he is still only 22.
Clarke has massive potenti
Sunderland manager Tony Mowbray has been hugely impressed by the growth he has seen in Clarke.
ChronicleLive quotes Mowbray as saying about Clarke: “He’s an amazing footballer, he’s really positive, really confident at the moment.
“When I think back to being manager of Blackburn Rovers two-and-a-half years ago and Jack Clarke playing for Tottenham U23s and not getting a kick against our young team, something miraculous has happened to Jack and he is now playing with confidence and belief in himself.
“At times he is unplayable, you don’t know whether he is going down the outside or whether he is cutting inside to bend it in like he did for the first goal.
