Sunderland take on Peterborough United as the League One title favourites meet at the Stadium of Light on Saturday at 3 pm.
Team News
Sunderland will be without Morgan Feeney for the match after suffering a hamstring injury in an Under-23's match at Burnley.
Midfielder George Dobson is suspended for the Black Cats but they will be boosted by the return of Max Power if he is deemed fit for the contest. Sunderland will also be without Elliot Embleton who won't be fit despite his recent return to first-team training.
Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson has confirmed Ricky-Jade Jones and Frazer Blake-Tracy will both be available for the match having made their return from injury. Other than that, Ferguson has a fit squad to select from.
Predicted Line-ups
Both sides are expected to line-up in a traditional 4-4-2 system.
Sunderland: Burge, Willis, Wright, Flanagan, O’Nien, McGeady, Power, Maguire, Hume, O’Brien, Grigg.
Peterborough United: Pym, Butler, Beevers, Kent, Thompson, Broom, Reed, Taylor, Szmodics, Clarke-Harris, Eisa.
Ones to watch
Northern Ireland international Will Grigg will definitely be a threat up top for the Black Cats. While closing in on 400 senior appearances Grigg has scored 103 goals throughout his career in League One.
The experienced 29-year-old knows how to get out of the third tier having been the top scorer for Wigan Athletic in their promotion campaign in 2015-16. After only finding the net once in the 2019-20 season, the Northern Irishman will be determined to have a better goals return for Sunderland this time out, in a campaign where they'll be pushing for promotion to the Championship.
Another forward that will be a threat for Sunderland will be Scottsman Chris Maguire. Since joining Sunderland the 31-year-old has scored 17 league goals across his first two seasons with the club. Maguire has a good record against the Posh having lost to them once in the four times he has faced them. The Scottsman has also earned himself a goal and four assists against Saturday's opponents so far in his career.
Sudanese forward Mohamed Eisa will be a danger man for Darren Ferguson's side on Saturday. The forward was close to having a 50% goals to game ratio in the last campaign having scored 14 goals in 29 league appearances. Eisa's pace up top and runs in behind will definitely be one for the Sunderland defence to keep an eye on during the contest.
Summer signing Ryan Broom will look to add creativity to the Peterborough side from midfield on Saturday. Darren Ferguson signed Broom after he scored 8 goals and got 11 assists in Cheltenham Town's League Two campaign last season which came to an end after they were beaten by Northampton Town in the play-off semi-finals. The Welshman will be eager to impress in League One having only made five previous appearances in the division for Bristol Rovers in 2016-17.
Previous meetings
The two sides have only met ten times in their history, the first dating back to February 1967 when Sunderland secured a 7-0 win over Posh in the FA Cup.
Since then Sunderland have won six times, with the spoils being shared twice and Peterborough winning on the other two occasions.
It has been over a year since the sides last met, which was in August 2019 where Peterborough came out on top by three goals to nil.
Where to watch
The game is not scheduled to be televised live but a live video match pass can be brought for £10 on the Sunderland Website or Peterborough United's iFollow service.
Pre-match quotes
Sunderland boss Phil Parkison is expecting an open game against Peterborough and has told their website:
“Peterborough are an attack-minded team who like to have a go,” the manager stated.
“I expect it to be a more open game than against Bristol Rovers – they came to disrupt the game, whereas I feel Peterborough are more open and will think more towards going forward. We of course endeavour to get that first goal – we know statistically how important that is in games."
Posh boss Darren Ferguson is wary of Sunderland's attacking threat but has told the Peterborough Chronicle it will be strange to play at an empty Stadium of Light:
"Sunderland are an experienced side and they are managed by an experienced management team," Ferguson said.
"They have an abundance of attacking options and they have a real experienced spine to their team as well. They had a good win at Oxford last weekend and they will be looking forward to the game, just as we will.
"It will be strange going to an empty Stadium of Light, it is one of the first fixtures you look for and it is such a shame there will be no fans there to watch the game.
"You want to be going to Sunderland to play in front of 30,000 fans. Football is a passionate sport. Playing without supporters is just weird, but it’s just one more thing we all have to get used to."