Stoke City travel to the North East for Saturday's all-Championship FA Cup tie against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
The hosts are searching for a third consecutive victory, while the visitors are hoping to claim their first win under Mark Robins's tutelage.
Match preview
Sunderland will be looking for revenge in Saturday's cup tie after they fell to a narrow 1-0 away defeat to Stoke in their Championship meeting at the end of December.
The Black Cats have since returned to winning ways, claiming back-to-back home victories to leave them in fourth spot and just two points adrift of the automatic promotion places.
Regis Le Bris's side claimed a 2-1 victory over promotion rivals Sheffield United, before they recorded a narrow 1-0 win in Sunday's meeting with relegation-threatened Portsmouth, which came courtesy of Wilson Isidor's seventh-minute effort.
As a result of those two wins, Sunderland remain unbeaten at the Stadium of Light this season, having won nine and drawn four of their 13 home matches.
Sunderland will now look to beat Stoke at the Stadium of Light for the second time this term after clinching a 2-1 victory in their home league encounter on December 7.
Robins is preparing to take charge of his second match as Stoke manager after beginning his tenure with a goalless draw against Plymouth Argyle at the bet365 Stadium.
While that represented a second straight goalless affair for the Potters, the result extended their unbeaten run to three Championship matches, leaving them four points clear of the relegation zone.
They have also kept clean sheets in each of those three matches, which will fill them with belief that they can negate a Sunderland side that are currently the fourth-highest scorers in the Championship.
However, their hopes of progressing from Saturday's FA Cup tie may be tempered by the fact that they have lost seven of their last 11 competitive away matches.
Nevertheless, Stoke will still travel to the Stadium of Light with hopes of reaching the fourth round for the third time in four seasons, as Robins looks to embark on another cup run after reaching the semi-finals with Coventry City last term.
Team News
Sunderland are expected to be without the services of Alan Browne, Romaine Mundle, Ian Poveda and Tommy Watson.
Dan Ballard and Ahmed Abdullahi will not be ready for Saturday's contest, but they could prove their fitness in time for Sunderland's next league fixture against Burnley.
The midfield duo of Chris Rigg and Salis Abdul Samed are set to come into the matchday squad after recovering from their respective injury issues.
As for the visitors, they could be without Ben Pearson, Jordan Thompson, Eric-Junior Bocat and Million Manhoef.
Midfielder Lewis Baker is set to come into the starting lineup after recently being recalled from his loan spell with Blackburn Rovers.
Leicester loanee Tom Cannon will continue to lead the line, with the striker looking to add the 10 goals that he has scored this season, including the winner in Stoke's most recent meeting with Sunderland.
Sunderland possible starting lineup:
Patterson; Hume, Mepham, O'Nien, Cirkin; Neil, Bellingham; Roberts, Rigg, Aouchiche; Isidor
Stoke City possible starting lineup:
Johansson; Tchamadeu, Phillips, Wilmot, Gooch; Baker, Seko; Koumas, Moran, Bae; Cannon
We say: Sunderland 1-0 Stoke City
Stoke have proven to be a tough team to beat in recent times, but we think that they may struggle to avoid defeat against a Sunderland side that has won four of their last five matches at the Stadium of Light.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
body check tags ::
Previews by email
