Sunderland welcome Stoke to the Stadium of Light in the FA Cup. Last time out Sunderland beat Portsmouth and Stoke drew with Plymouth at home. Sunderland named an unchanged side to face Portsmouth and continued their good start to 2025 with a 1-0 win against a poor side. Wilson Isidor scored his 3rd goal in 4 games as he cooly slotted home after some fine one touch build up play. The Black Cats should have been out of sight by half-time but squandered some great opportunities. Pack was sent off on 67 minutes for pulling Isidor’s shirt as he sprinted towards goal. Sunderland should have killed off the game but despite a Pompey rally in the last 5 minutes, they could not breach the Sunderland defence. Chris Rigg has recovered and Salis Abdul Samed is expected to make his debut or at least feature on the bench. Dan Ballard is not ready for a return just yet. Abdullahi may also get a few minutes. Regis le Bris has said that he prefers to maintain the team dynamic and will only make a few changes to the starting 11. Enzo le Fee is expected to be announced tomorrow after arriving in Sunderland on Thursday. Huggins, Mundle, Browne, Watson & Poveda remain on the injured list. Stoke have appointed Mark Robins the former Coventry coach to replace the sacked Narcis Pelach with caretaker Ryan Shawcross returning to the U21s. The Potters failed to score as they played out a drab 0-0 draw with bottom club Plymouth. Stoke have a few injury concerns themselves and Robins may use this game to assess his current squad. Million Manhoef (knee) is out until March. Sam Gallagher (hamstring) and Eric Bocat (calf) could be doubtful, Bocat was withdrawn in the warm-up prior to the Championship game with Sunderland and has not featured since. Regis le Bris: "The early goal was important and opened the game for us. But Portsmouth did well with their own style of play and we struggled. "It was better second half but we didn't score this second goal - 24 shots, many big chances, so the game was open until the end. "Even if we didn't score this goal, we showed our consistency, which is good for a young team." "This was a fifth game in 15 days with a short squad, "So we can't expect a great level of play during the whole game. It's really impossible. "But we showed that we wanted to win, we were connected even when it was a little bit more difficult." Press Conference: Mark Robins: "If you can't win, the key thing is always just making sure you don't lose. "The players have had a lot of games in a short space of time and that can take its toll. We'll give him them a couple of games off ahead of the FA Cup tie. "We just didn't have the urgency and quality we needed. "Sam Gallagher felt his hamstring. It could be just fatigue. And Eric Bocat may be out for a few weeks too." Form: Match Appointments Referee: Elliot Bell Assistant referees: Nigel Lugg and Conor Brown Fourth official: Simon Mather Team Lineups: Sunderland AFC: (4-3-3) Moore, Hume, O’Nien, Hjelde, Alese, Rigg, Neil, Aleksic, Roberts, Aouchiche, Mayenda. Subs: Noukeu, Cirkin, Johnson, Samed, Jones, Connolly, Rusyn, Ogunsuyi, Abdullahi. Injured: Huggins, Seelt, Browne, Mundle, Watson, Poveda. Stoke City: (5-4-1) Johansson; Tchamadeu, Wilmot, Phillips, Gibson, Gooch; Sidibe, Burger, Moran, Koumas; Cannon. Subs: Bae Jun-ho, Bonham, Ennis, Rose, Lawal, Stevens, Tezgel. Injured: Manhoef, Bocat, Gallagher Betting Odds: Sunderland 5/4 Stoke 21/10 Draw 9/4 Prutton Predicts: meh My two pence: A great result against Pompey to maintain our push for an automatic place. We’ve had 3 games in quick succession against this lot, won 1 and lost 1 so far and all against a different manager each time. Hopefully Robbins hasn’t had enough time to get them properly organised and our youngsters step up to the plate. The FA Cup is still special for me and I love to hear the immortal words “And Sunderland the underdogs are in the lead” yet again. If we lose then who cares about the FA Cup anyway. I’m going for a 2-0 home win Live Stream: ESPN+ Sky Sports 7 - NZ Optus - Aus bbc coverage online Ha’way the Lads
I’m looking forward to it, love the FA Cup Ticket sales have been shocking though Lucky if there’s 12,000 in the ground come kick off
Love the FA Cup but I don't want to see us taking any unnecessary risks here. Last thing I want to see is a Stewart style season ending injury in a cup game. I wouldn't be surprised to see Stoke go close to full strength, Robins needs to implement his style and system. 1-1, Connolly. SAFC win on pens.
Can't get excited about Stoke. Well done RTB for motivating yourself for this one. Hoping for a reserve 11.
Not going to predict the score as it’s impossible to know who’ll play. I expect Stoke will be full strength as Mark Robins will want to see what he’s got. could well be a defeat and I couldn’t care less as long as nobody gets injured or suspended
Yep, I expect Robins to name a full strength side. We’re big favourites currently but there’ll be a big shift in odds when the teams are announced. I’d love us to progress but don’t want any risks with key first teamers
Will Le Fee be available? Will Samed start? if they both start it will be a premiere league midfield.
I’ve put us down for a loss but only because I don’t want this to be a distraction to the league. Ordinarily I’d love to see us progress in the cup but I’d much rather we concentrate on getting promoted.
As much as it pains me to say this(as I think the FA Cup should be the most important and prestigious cup competition in the world but has been let down by our fa on numerous occasions) I think this game may well be used by RLB as a vehicle to get minutes into legs that need them. I hope we put out a ‘B’ team and still win but the league has to be the priority.
HA'WAY THE LADS MACKEMS ATTACKEM Always want us to win. Errrm. I'm saying nothing, other than we WILL get promoted this season. FA cup. ? Would be very nice.
Be good to see what the fringe lads can do and hopefully samed can get some minutes, not really bothered about the result, get through with no injuries and I’ll be happy, do think we’ll win it though 1-0 Leo Hjelde bullet header
Looking forward to seeing some of the fringe players getting a chance to impress and hopefully Samed to make his debut. No idea who will play or what formation we will play but then neither will Stoke. Let's hope the fringe players take the chance to impress RLB and put in a storming performance
I have no intention of being in the ground and there are many like me who live away from Sunderland. It would mean an entire day, spending around £100, and I've just been to the last four home and away games. Everyone groaned when we were drawn against Stoke, we'll play reserves and have virtually no chance of winning the Cup ... ... as we're one win from top of the league most people's interest/time/finances are focussed on that. We all know the atmosphere will be poor and it'll be freezing ... ... I don't blame anyone for not going, not even those who could walk there, Christmas was expensive.
