Sunderland host Norwich City at Stadium of Light as both teams look to reignite their Championship Play-Off challenges.
Victory could see Sunderland climb to third if those above them all lose elsewhere, whilst Norwich can leapfrog the Black Cats with a win and potentially move into the top ten.
Team News
Adil Aouchiche is ruled out for Sunderland after he missed their defeat at Leicester with a minor muscle injury.
Eliezer Mayenda and Bradley Dack (both hamstring) are doubts but Jay Matete (knee), Aji Alese (thigh), Timothee Pembele (cruciate ligament) and Corry Evans (ACL) remain sidelined.
Norwich will again be without Angus Gunn after he missed their midweek loss to Middlesbrough with a leg injury.
Jacob Sørensen (pelvis), Grant Hanley (Achilles), Ashley Barnes (knee) and Josh Sargent (ankle) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Sunderland host Norwich at Stadium of Light in a 3pm BST kick-off on Saturday 28 October, untelevisd live in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Sunderland have claimed 10 points from their last five meetings against Norwich (W3, D1, L1).
- Norwich are unbeaten in their last five visits to Sunderland (W2, D3).
- Both teams won away from home in their two meetings last season, with Josh Sargent netting in Norwich’s away win on Wearside in August 2022.
- Sunderland are looking to avoid suffering four consecutive league defeats for the first time since August – September 2017.
- Norwich have claimed just one point in their last four away matches (D1, L3).
Prediction
Having hit their first proper rut of the season with sluggish starts proving costly especially in their last two matches, Sunderland now need to reset and find a way to cut out their mistakes and hit the ground running faster against opposition if want to get back to winning ways.
Norwich meanwhile just can’t keep clean sheets with just one clean sheet in their last eight games and after lacking energy in the loss to Boro, David Wagner need to get his Canaries more resilient at the back because their attack are doing their job well but let down by defence result wise.
Both teams therefore have their own improvements to make but after narrowly losing at Leicester, Sunderland just now need to tighten up more defensively and be clinical which might be the difference here given Norwich’s leaky defence.
Prediction: Sunderland 2-1 Norwich
Result: Sunderland 3-1 Norwich