Venue: Stadium of Light Referee: Mike Dean Date: 10th of November Sunderland could struggle to cope with the 2011/12 Champions as they sit in the bottom three of the Barclay's Premier League. Gus Poyet will be looking to maintain positivity after their victory over Southampton on Wednesday in the Capital One Cup. The Black Cats have had some fortune against The Sky Blues in the past, after they claimed a third successive 1-0 season on Boxing Day 2012, when Adam Johnson scored against his old club at the Stadium of Light. Manchester City will want to continue their impressive form when they visit Wearside on Sunday. The combination of Sergio Agüero and lvaro Negredo will be watched with great interest after their rampant goal-scoring display against CSKA Moscow in the Champions League mid-week, which displayed the kind of attacking flair that could unnerve opponents as well as to potential to win the league this season. Team news Sunderland could welcome back Keiren Westwood, Emanuele Giaccherini and Ondrej Celustka from injury and could be named in the squad but may not feature. Lee Cattermole and Andrea Dossena will also be missing from the squad on Sunday while they continue to see out their three-match bans they picked up against Hull last weekend. City will be without their midfield maestro David Silva after he was ruled out for up to a month with a calf problem he picked up during the week and Fernandinho may start but is also struggling with knock. Vincent Kompany will not play any part in the game as he continues to recover from a thigh injury that has kept him out of action since early October. Recent form Sunderland have won only one game in their last six matches, with that victory coming against their bitter rivals Newcastle. It's the kind of form that sides face during a relegation battle, even a win would not be enough to pull them from the bottom three but could kick-start their season. Manchester City are flying at the minute. Although they are lying in fifth place in the league they beat Norwich 7-0 last weekend and their recent performances bode well for Manuel Pellegrini along with the contributions of Agüero and Negredo too. Likely Lineups Sunderland (4-1-4-1) - GK: Vito Mannone, LB: Phil Bardsley, CB: John O'Shea & Wes Brown, RB: Craig Gardner, DM: Ki Sung-Yueng, AML: Emanuele Giaccherini, CM: Jack Colback & Larsson, AMR: Adam Johnson, ST: Jozy Altidore. Manchester City (4-3-3) - GK: Costel Pantilimon, RB: Pablo Zabaleta, CB: Matija Nastasi & Martin Demichelis, LB: Gael Clichy, RM: Jesus Navas, CM: Yaya Toure, LM: Fernandinho, RF: lvaro Negredo, LF: Samir Nasri, ST: Sergio Agüero Line up Source: The Guardian
A North East freelance sports journalist who contributes in both written and video formats, with particular interest in athletics and football. I also like to dabble in a spot of gaming as well as film, mainly comic book themed and reading a few too. I am Batman.
