Preview
The Black Cats look to scratch their way up the table with an unlikely win over a malicious Manchester City.
The home side have enjoyed inflicting a monumental amount of bad luck on the visitors over the years and a win on Sunday afternoon will have Poyet's men purring. The Uruguayan led his relegation battlers to their first victory of the season in delicious fashion over North East rivals Newcastle United a fortnight ago, but their winless woe continued last weekend when Hull City sank their canines into a vulnerable 9-man outfit.
The Stadium of Light has been a contemptible cauldron of doom and gloom for Sunderland who have recorded only four points from ten games this season. Only Crystal Palace lurk behind them in the league table and although Gus Poyet will be hopeful of pulling his purrers away from the relegation zone, many feel their fate has already been sealed.
The relegation zone as it stands so far.
Fortunately, Manchester City's story this season has just started to pick up some pace. Sergio Aguero and Alvaro Negredo (recently nicknamed 'Beauty and the Beast') have formed a ferocious partnership up top which currently can't stop scoring goals. Twenty have already been netted between the pair in all competitions and the tally is expected to grow even larger as the season progresses.
Although Manuel Pellegrini's target of winning five trophies in as many years seemed impossibly daunting at the beginning of the campaign, Manchester City are still intimidatingly involved in every cup they've participated in. The last eight of the Capital One cup still looms; the title race's door keeps swinging open and the last 16 of the Champions League still has a sparkling platform on which City can announce themselves to European football. It would be ridiculous to brand our 2013/2014 campaign as 'disappointing', because quite honestly, it hasn't been.
City have sealed a place in the last 16 of the Champions League for the first time in their history.
Apprehension surrounds the Sunday trip to the Stadium of Light where City haven't won since 2008, but right now, we're a completely different entity.
Long gone are the days of Ji Dong Won, offside goals and settling for 1-1 - the Beast and his beautiful companion are set to be unleashed.
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Line-Up
Injury trouble looks to have returned to the City ranks and the blues could field a new-look side on Sunday afternoon. David Silva has been ruled out for a month with a calf injury joins the company of Vincent and Stevan Jovetic on a growing list.
At the peak of his form, David Silva has been ruled out for a month.
Matija Nastasic and Fernandinho are also doubtful for Sunday's trip which means Joleon Lescott and Jack Rodwell could feature in City's staring XI. Luckily for the blues, our strength in depth means we can still compete at the highest level.
Key Players
Sebastian Larsson
The Swedish international hasn't seen much first team football at Sunderland this season, but he looks to have impressed new manager Gus Poyet. The midfielder has a great range of pass on him and is always a threat in the dead ball situation.
Sergio Aguero
There's no need to explain why the Argentine will be City's main man on Sunday. His pace, strength and supreme finishing abilities should be too much for the home side and he'll be looking to overtake Luis Suarez who equaled Aguero's tally yesterday.
