Sunderland host Aston Villa with both sides sitting precariously above the relegation zone with the season's final stretch well underway.

For the fourth straight home game Sunderland face a team in and around them down the bottom of the Premier League. The results have been mixed so far with a 2-0 win over Burnley folowed up by a 2-0 defeat by QPR and then most recently a 0-0 draw with West Brom.

Since their last home outing they've had back to back away games against Manchester United who beat them 2-0 courtesy of some mistaken identity and against Hull where they picked up yet another draw 1-1 where touchline antics from Gus Poyet were the main attraction.

Villa meanwhile have slowly improved under new boss Tim Sherwood after the former Spurs man lost his first two games in charge at home to Stoke 2-1 courtesy of a last minute penalty and another game up in the North East against Newcastle 1-0.

A double header against Midlands rivals West Brom it seems was just the tonic though as the Villains grabbed two wins at Villa park, first in the league 2-1 courtesy of Christian Benteke's last minute penalty and then 2-0 in the FA Cup quarter final despite unsavory scenes from the Villa faithful.

Team News

Lee Cattermole will be missing for the hosts for two games after his 10th booking of the season against Hull.

Gus Poyet also has a bit of a wide midfielder crisis with Adam Johnson still suspended by the club and Emanuele Giaccherini for the season and Will Buckley injured.

Villa's squad is massively depleted with Ron Vlaar and former Black Cat Kieran Richardson both touch and go for this game with injuries while Alan Hutton and Jack Grealish are both suspended.

Some good news is that striker Benteke has shaken off a short term knock to be fit for this one after missing the FA Cup tie.

Stats

Sunderland have only scored once in their last six Premier League games against Villa.

Gabriel Agbonlahor has scored in three of his last four appearences against Sunderland.

Sunderland have drawn with Aston Villa 11 times, the most against any club in their Premier League history.