Sunderland vs Manchester City: What TV channel is it on, what time is kick off and what is latest team news?
All the latest info as the struggling Black Cats host rampant City in the Premier League on Sunday, March 5
SUNDERLAND entertain Manchester City at the Stadium of Light on Sunday at 4pm.
This vital Premier League showdown is live on Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports 1 HD and Sky Sports Ultra HD.
There is coverage on Radio 5 Live and and you can also follow the action on the SunSport live blog.
Keep up to date with ALL the Sunderland and Manchester City news, gossip, transfers and goals on our club page plus fixtures, results and live match commentary
Match of the Day 2 , of course, will show highlights at 10.30pm on BBC2.
The match has key implications at both ends of the table as the Black Cats bid to climb off the bottom.
City are strong favourites to take all three points. Fresh from their 5-1 FA Cup hammering of Huddersfield, Pep Guardiola's men are in no mood to sympathise with the struggling Black Cats.
Sergio Aguero, especially, will be licking his lips at the prospect of playing against a team he always seems to score against.
The Argentinian is keen to show young upstart Jesus Gabriel - sadly on the injured list following his amazing start to life at The Etihad - that, actually, he is still the attacking king of the Premier League.
Aguero netted twice in last week's 5-3 Champions League victory over Monaco and bagged another brace against Championship promotion contenders Huddersfield.
David Moyes reckons Sunderland need five more wins to stand any chance of staying up, but it's hard to suggest one of them will come against City.
One area of hope for top scorer Jermain Defoe is City's flaky defence. The visitors, with David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne in full flow, are brilliant going forward but not so good at the back - as the Monaco game demonstrated in that it could easily have ended up 5-5.
It is highly likely that after this weekend results the Black Cats will be five points off safety. They can only hope Guardiola fields a few fringe players given he has successive midweek games coming up against Stoke and Monaco.
Team news
Defoe, who has scored eight goals against City over the years, is likely to be flanked by Fabio Borini and Adnan Januzaj as the Black Cats face their seismic test.
Victor Anichebe, Paddy McNair, Lee Cattermole, Duncan Watmore and Jack Rodwell remain unavailable.
But Jan Kirchhoff is close to a return having resumed full training, Jordan Pickford was back between the sticks at Everton with Papy Djilobodji is available after completing his four-game ban.
Boss David Moyes' biggest headache is whether to keep faith with the back four of Billy Jones, John O’Shea, Lamine Kone and Bryan Oviedo that looked far more organised and compact in the 2-0 loss at Everton or bring Djilobodji or Joleon Lescott into the fold and revert to a back three?
Related Stories
In midfield Seb Larsson has looked weak of late so George Honeyman or Lynden Gooch, both on the bench at Goodison, could be brought into midfield.
Guardiola’s City are 11 points adrift of leaders Chelsea in third but the Spaniard is aiming to keep the pressure on by grabbing another three points.
Gabriel continues to be sidelined with a broken metatarsal, while skipper Vincent Kompany could once more be missing after suffering an injury setback soon after returning from back trouble.
Guardiola must decide whether to stick with Claudio Bravo in goal or recall Willy Caballero.
Though Yaya Toure and Aleks Kolarov were rested and David Silva left on the bench against Huddersfield, Aleix Garcia started and could get another chance on Sunday.
SunSport score prediction
It's difficult to see how Sunderland can get anything from this one.
They may well be advised to really go for it given City's defensive frailties, but it's more likely boss Moyes will err on the side of caution and hope for a goal on the counter-attack.
City are in high goal-scoring form and expect them to pull away in the final quarter of the game to leave Sunderland deep in relegation trouble.
SunSport score prediction: Sunderland 1 Manchester City 3
Match facts
- Sunderland have lost each of their last five Premier League games against Manchester City since a 2-2 draw at the Etihad in April 2014.
- City have won their last two Premier League visits to the Stadium of Light since a run of four consecutive 1-0 defeats between 2010 and 2013.
- Of Premier League teams the Citizens have played 25 or more times, they have the best win percentage against the Black Cats (68%, 17 wins from 25 games).
- Sergio Aguero has been involved in six goals in his last four Premier League appearances against Sunderland (four goals, two assists). In all competitions, the Argentinian striker has scored in each of his last three games at the Stadium of Light (four goals).
9Pep Guardiola...has suffered five league defeats as Manchester City bossCredit: PA:Press Association 
9Sergio Aguero will be gunning for Sunderland on SundayCredit: PA:Press Association - David Moyes has only lost two of the 12 home Premier League games he has managed against Manchester City (W7 D3 L2). Indeed, only against Fulham (12) has he won more home Premier League games than against the Citizens (7).
- Sunderland haven’t been any higher than 15th position in the Premier League this season, while Manchester City are one of two teams who haven’t been outside the top half (along with Everton).
- The Black Cats have lost 17 of their 26 Premier League games this season; the same tally as they had in the entire 2015-16 season (17).Jermain Defoe has scored a goal in every single month of possible Premier League action since January 2016 (12 months in a row).
9Kelechi Iheanacho fires for goal against Sunderland at The EtihadCredit: Reuters - Defoe has scored eight Premier League goals against Manchester City – only versus Wigan Athletic (10) has he netted more in the competition.
- Defoe has attempted 64 shots in the Premier League this season; 40 more than any other Sunderland player.
- Pep Guardiola has suffered five league defeats as Manchester City boss this season – he’s never lost six in a single league campaign as a manager.
