Coming up this weekend, one of the biggest games in the Sky Bet League One 2021/22 calendar is on the cards, as second takes on fourth in the highly anticipated top-of-the-table crunch.

Wycombe Wanderers and Sunderland AFC are our featured 3pm kick-off as the battle for an automatic promotion place heats up.

📅 Match details 

Kick-off at Adams Park is 12:30pm as the Chairboys welcome the Black Cats to Buckinghamshire, with the game airing live on Sky Sports.

Match officials for the clash have been named as Charles Breakspear, joined by Marc Wilson and Dean Treleaven, and fourth official Stuart Butler.

👔 At the helm

From keeping Wanderers from relegation as a player to guiding the Club to the Sky Bet Championship for the first time in Wycombe’s history, Gareth Ainsworth turned the team’s fortunes around when they won promotion to League One at the end of the 2017/18 season.

Having taken up a player-coaching role with the Chairboys following his retirement, he quickly settled into life in the dugout, appointed caretaker manager of the Club in September 2012 and the rest is history.

Despite taking up the role as Sunderland head coach around a year ago, Lee Johnson has already added some silverware to the Black Cats’ trophy cabinet, winning the Papa John’s Trophy in the 2021 Final.

The 40-year-old arrived at the Stadium of Light in December 2020 with spells at Oldham Athletic, Barnsley and Bristol City on his CV, before finding his way back into management with Sunderland.

🔑 Key man

A constant in the Wycombe side and a key ingredient in any Wanderers promotion push, left-back, Joe Jacobson has clocked 22 appearances and counting this season, playing his part in Wycombe’s impressive start to the season. 

The Welshman was also deserving of his place in heart of the defence in the EFL Team of the Season so far as the campaign reaches the half-way point.

This season has seen the Black Cats’ top marksman Ross Stewart hit new heights, not least by scoring his first career hat-trick in a 5-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday in Sunderland’s final match of 2021 to round off December.

The forward, who joined Johnson’s side from Scottish Premiership outfit Ross County in January last year, has notched 15 goals this season, leading the way in the League One scoring charts alongside Morecambe’s Cole Stockton.

📈 Form guide

Four points separate second-placed Sunderland and fourth-placed Wycombe with just seven points standing between the top six. Wanderers sit level on 45 points with Wigan Athletic whilst the Black Cats trail League leaders Rotherham United by a point.

Unbeaten in their last nine, Sunderland picked up 17 points in December, including two emphatic 5-0 displays over Morecambe and Sheffield Wednesday to become the League’s top scorers.

The Chairboys, meanwhile, have registered just one defeat in their last seven, kicking off the New Year with a victory over Charlton Athletic.

Keep up to date with live match updates from this weekend’s featured game by following @SkyBetLeagueOne on Twitter.