Sunderland will play host to Everton on Monday evening for a 7:45 kick-off at the Stadium of Light and they will be aiming for their first win of the season.
In time David Moyes will eventually break the cycle of dispirited on Wearside, however - for now - Sunderland will have continued to endure a familiar feeling of frustrations.
Team News
There is high potential for both new Black Cats signings Mika Domingues and Jason Denayer to be involved in the match up with the Toffees, but young Jordan Pickford is the likely choice to start in goal.
Also, Jan Kirchhoff and John O’Shea are both fit to make an appearance at the Stadium of Light, although both Didier Ndong and Victor Anichebe won’t feature in the match.
The visitor’s forward Enner Valencia is expected to make his debut for the Merseyside club, while Seamus Coleman, having recovered from an ankle injury, is fit to play at Ronald Koeman’s disposal.
One definite absentee player for Everton is James McCarthy after undergoing groin surgery in the recent weeks.
Match Facts
Currently, Sunderland have won four of their last seven Premier League meetings against Everton only drawing once and losing twice in that time, the stats are in the Black Cats favour, also losing just once in their last seven meetings at the Stadium of Light.
The most notable wins were the 3-0 win in the fixture on 11 May which sealed and stamped Sunderland’s Premier League safety last season, hopefully, the Lads can replicate the win tomorrow.
However, Jermain Defoe has scored five goals against the Toffees but all those five were away from at Goodison Park which doesn’t bode well, hopefully, Defoe will change that in tomorrow’s fixture.
But some good news for the Lads is that Romelu Lukaku has failed to score or even assist in the last 11 Premier League games for Everton.
Key players
The battle between the two sides' strikers will be rather intriguing. The hosts have the forever-scoring Defoe at their disposal and the Englishman could once again be the difference between survival and relegation for the Black Cats come to the end of the season.