Last time out Sunderland drew at Hartlepool and Coventry beat Portsmouth. Sunderland host Coventry at the stadium of Light in their opening game back in the Championship after a four year absence. The Black Cats have signed goalkeeper Alex Bass on a 3 year deal, striker Josh Simms has signed a loan deal from Everton, and Nathan Broadband is still negotiating a potential return. Sunderland only have one injury concern - Niall Huggins is out due to a heel injury. The Sky Blues are without skipper Liam Kelly for several months after the midfielder tore a hamstring against Oxford United, while playmaker Kasey Palmer and ex Black Cat striker Martyn Waghorn sat out Saturday’s 2-0 win at Portsmouth where City rounded off their pre-season schedule. City announced the arrival of Tayo Adaramola on loan from Crystal Palace on Wednesday. Alex Neil: “Hopefully we’ll have one or two in the door by Sunday.” “Listen, we're getting there. The lads that played the other day did really well in large spells, and that was the same here. I'm not going to lie, I'd like a bit more momentum in terms of wins on the board. I thought that we deserved to win tonight, and the other day to be honest.” “The most important thing is the 90 minutes in the legs for the lads. They made seven changes at half time and we made none, so naturally in the latter stages there was a bit of a mismatch. That was good for us because it meant that we had to work harder." Mark Robins: “Kasey (Palmer) has a little bit of an issue with his thigh that he picked up on Tuesday. Waggy should be OK to train on Monday. He picked up a calf knock and we didn’t know if it was a tear or a kick, but it’s presenting more like a kick because it’s getting better and he feels OK.” “It was precautionary (to leave him out) because he didn’t train yesterday which meant that he didn’t travel, but he was in on Saturday morning and will be in again on Monday to train.” “Likewise with Kasey. We will just look and see how he is but he won’t be too long. It will be days rather than weeks, so we’ll see how he is early in the week as we build into the game on Sunday.” Match Appointments: Referee: DARREN BOND Assistant Referees: Philip Dermott and Nigel Lugg Fourth Official: Stephen Martin Team Line-ups: Sunderland AFC: (4-2-3-1) Patterson, Hume, Ballard, Batth, Cirkin, Neil, Evans, Pritchard, Roberts, Clarke, Stewart. Subs: Bass, Alese, Winchester, Gooch, Embleton, Diamond, Simms Injured: Huggins Coventry City FC: (3-4-2-1) Moore, Hyam, McFadzean, Panzo, Dabo, Tayo, Hamer, Allen, O’Hare, Gyokeres, Godden. Subs: Wilson, Sheaf, Doyle, Rose, Walker, Palmer, Waghorn Injured: Kelly Betting Odds: Sunderland 17/10 Coventry 13/8 Draw 9/4 My two pence: At last, we are back. All those pre-season games mean nothing, this is what really matters, getting as many points as we can and then see where we end up. Coventry had the perfect warm up to the start of the season winning all of their friendly games, scoring 22 goals and only conceding 3. City boast the second best opening-day record of all 24 Championship teams, while the Black Cats come out worst in average points-per-game ranking for a curtain raiser, but hey stats mean nowt - I'm going for a 2-1 win for the lads. Live Stream: The game is live on Sky Sports Football and is not available on the SAFC streaming service. *** Get there early – it’s going to be busy *** Ha’way the Lads
Great thread mate. Really tough game and we’ll need our better players to step up. 1-1 and that wouldn’t be a bad result…
Doyle should get a decent reception on his return. Played his part last season, was excellent early on in the season…
Im gutted Huggins never had any minute's on the pitch pre-season. He has the potential to be a top player, and im looking forward to seeing him make his mark. He came very highly rated from Leeds fans when we signed him, and even Kalvin Phillips tipped him to break into their team in the Prem 2 years ago
Stewart would have played against him daily in training and vice versa. I hope Stewart comes out on top because theyll both know eachothers strenghs and weaknesses
Really tough first game TBF. Coventry very established and have a really strong squad. Hoping the occasion and our momentum last season carries. I'll go for a 2-2 draw.
Proper footy is back and I can't wait. Season ticket safely received and supporters coach leaving at 10 on Sunday so an early start. As always I'm hoping for a fast start in front of what should be a bumper crowd. Gone for a draw but hoping we can nick a win
A couple of ‘Boro lads at work reckon Coventry were the best footballing side they came up against last season. Move the ball really fast
I got told the same off one of my mates aswell mate. They reckon Gyokeres or whatever hes called is a top top player
Yeah, major test for our squad. Either way, it's proper football and a high standard. Something we craved for during the lengthy stint in league one.
Great thread RTB. Lovely to see the match day thread back. Really looking forward to this. Always some strange results and high scoring games 1st match up. Be great to get off to a winning start but fancy this may end up a draw. Should be a cracking atmosphere. Keep the faith lads and lasses.
The crowd will play a big part Sunday. There’ll be spells when we get bombarded and struggle to get a foothold but we need to stand firm. Can’t wait
