Stoke City 2 Sunderland 1: Highlights after Luke McNally goal gives Alex Neil’s side big win

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Sunderland's Championship fixture against Stoke at the bet365 Stadium.

We'll have all the build-up as the Black Cats come up against their former boss Alex Neil, as well as in-game analysis and post-match reaction.

Stick around and refresh the page for live updates throughout the day.

We'll start with the Sunderland team news.

Dan Neil won't be available for today's match as he serves a one-match suspension following his red card against Middlesbrough. 

Pierre Ekwah (dead leg) and Alex Pritchard (calf) were both set to be assessed after yesterday's training session, along with Dan Ballard who picked up a thigh issue while on international duty with Northern Ireland.

Bradley Dack has also returned to training but is being managed back carefully following a hamstring issue.

Niall Huggins was forced off in the first half against Middlesbrough last time out but could feature against Stoke.

Today's match is expected to come too soon for Dennis Cirkin (hamstring), Aji Alese (thigh) and Eliezer Mayenda (hamstring), while Timothee Pembele, Jay Matete and Corry Evans all remain out.

Here’s what Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray had to say about today’s opponents.

“Stoke is a tough game. Obviously we’ve got Alex Neil, he’s a very talented football manager who made a decision in his life what he was doing next.

“Obviously we’ve had a poor result against them last season and I think we need to put that in the bin and move on. This is the next challenge really.

“Stoke are a very intense football team, very well organised, but for us it’s about can we impose ourselves and our game style on the opposition who we are playing.”

Stoke were dealing with several injury issues before the international break and have won just one of their last eight league games, which has seen them drop to 21st in the table.

Lynden Gooch is in contention to face his former club after missing his side’s last two matches with a hamstring issue, while Andre Vidigal, Ryan Mmaee, Michael Rose, Enda Stevens and Ki-Jana Hoever could also return to action.

To find out more, we caught up with Stoke reporter Pete Smith on the latest episode of The Roar Podcast.

You can listen to the full episode HERE

Here’s what Stoke boss Alex Neil had to say when asked about coming up against his former club.

“I think that coming up from League One last year, I thought they were riding on the crest of a wave and they’ve got a team that’s largely played together and functioned together for a bit of time now. They’ve added a lot of players but interestingly not a lot of them have made it into the first team, which I think shows that the team’s doing well.

“They’re young, which helps them play with very little fear in their game, and they are dangerous. They’ve got individuals that can hurt you and that’s proven to be the case this season.”

Here are our predicted line-ups for today’s match:

Predicted Stoke XI: Travers, Hoever, Stevens, McNally, Rose, Pearson, Burger, Laurent, Vidigal, Leris, Mmaee.

Predicted Sunderland XI: Patterson, Hume, Ballard, O’Nien, Huggins, Ekwah, Bellingham, Roberts, Pritchard, Clarke, Burstow

So it’s two changes for Sunderland following their defeat against Middlesbrough last time out.

Pierre Ekwah and Alex Pritchard both return from injuries and come straight back into the starting XI, with Dan Neil suspended and Mason Burstow dropping to the bench.

Dan Ballard is also fit after picking up a minor injury while on international duty with Northern Ireland, while Bradley Dack returns to the bench following a hamstring issue.

Stoke boss Alex Neil has made five changes to his starting XI following The Potters’ 2-0 defeat against Leicester before the international break.

Andre Vidigal, Ryan Mmaee, Enda Stevens, Ki-Jana Hoever and Michael Rose have all recovered from injury setbacks, while Lynden Gooch is back on the bench for the hosts.