Wilko: The league comes first

Last updated : 04 December 2002 By Black Cat
The Sunderland boss made nine changes to the team beaten by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last weekend and paid the price as Sheffield United reached the last eight of the competition for the first time in 30 years.

Wilkinson is more concerned about lifting Sunderland out of the Premiership's bottom three: "Undoubtedly the league comes first," he said.

"When you think I've got (Paul) Thirlwell and (Kevin) Kilbane sitting at home, they are really the only two midfield players to pick. But with Christmas coming up and a lot of important Premiership games looming, I have to be careful.

"I made the decision that keeping players available for selection for the Premiership was the right way to go.

"Looking at the game as a whole we had enough of the ball to win it, and we should certainly have got a goal. We had plenty of strikes in this game - but goalscoring has been a problem for us for a long time."

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