Martyn Waghorn will make an emotional first return to Sunderland this afternoon, but there will be no room for sentiment if he finds the net against the club he started his career with.
The 28-year-old came through the youth system at the Stadium of Light but only made eight appearances for the Black Cats, with his time on Wearside also including loan moves to Charlton and Leicester before a £3million move to the Foxes.
Waghorn will be looking to end a goal drought which now stands at 10 games when he faces his former club for the first time since departing in 2010 and, if he does find the net, he will certainly be celebrating his goal.
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“I’m looking forward to it,” Waghorn said of his return to the Stadium of Light.
“It will be the first time I’ve actually been back there and I’m looking forward to seeing some family and friends.
“A goal’s a goal,” Waghorn added when asked if he would celebrate if he scored. “Nothing against them or anything but it’s about getting the win and getting the goal. That’s the most important thing.”
The Blues face a Sunderland side who have lost three of their last four league games, the most recent being on Tuesday night at Birmingham, leaving them 23rd in the Championship.
Waghorn believes the 3-1 defeat at St Andrew’s will mean Town face a Black Cats side motivated to put things right, with the forward insisting the Blues will have to be at their best to return from the North East with points.
“The result for them on Tuesday night didn’t help our course but we’re going to go up there and we know it’s going to be difficult,” Waghorn said.
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“It’s a good stadium to play at for the boys and it’s a big pitch. Hopefully we can get the ball down, play around and get our chances. We know what it’s going to be like, they’re going to be fighting and scrapping but so are we and we want to keep picking up three points and push up the table.
“You can look at it both ways but they’ve also signed a couple of players in on loan and you know what it’s like, a couple of new faces freshens the place up.
“It’s going to be a tough test and we’ll have to be right up for it to get anything from it.”
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