Birmingham 2 Sunderland 1: Highlights after Jordan James and Koji Miyoshi goals give hosts win at St Andrew's

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Sunderland's Championship match against Birmingham City at St Andrew's.

The Black Cats will be looking to bounce back following Wednesday's 1-0 defeat at Huddersfield, with Michael Beale's side within touching distance of the play-offs.

We'll have live updates, analysis, reaction and more throughout the day. Stick around and refresh the page to follow the action.

We'll start with the Sunderland team news.

Beale has confirmed on Friday that Patrick Roberts (below) will miss today's match after being forced off with a hamstring injury during Wednesday's game at Huddersfield. The winger is now expected to be sidelined for at least a few weeks.

Bradley Dack isn't expected to be available until next month, while Aji Alese, Dennis Cirkin and Niall Huggins remain sidelined.

New signing Callum Styles could be named in Sunderland's squad for the first time, after undergoing a minor surgery to remove his appendix last month.

Corry Evans has stepped up his return by training with the under-21s side, while Elliot Embleton has picked an ankle issue after returning from a thigh injury.

Sunderland will of course come up against former boss Tony Mowbray, who took charge of Birmingham last month.

Here's what Beale had to say when asked about his opposite number.

"Firstly I don't think Tony has anything to prove to the Sunderland fans or people here.

"I think our fans will show their class, and he didn't get a chance to say goodbye either, so that's natural, and then we'll play the game.

"It's Sunderland vs Birmingham, it's a big game. I think the niceties, which I think should happen, will happen and then it's about us going there and getting a result. Every team in this league has got something to play for."

Since Birmingham appointed Mowbray on January 8, the club have won two, lost two and drawn once in the Championship.

Tuesday's 1-0 win over Blackburn moved the Blues up to 18th in the Championship, six points clear of the relegation zone.

Former Sunderland player Alex Pritchard (below) is set to miss today's game with a calf injury, while defender Dion Sanderson could return after missing three league games with an ankle issue.

Here's what Mowbray had to say when asked about facing his former club:

“The people of Sunderland were amazing to me considering I lived, played football for 12 years, and managed for three years the team (Middlesbrough) 30 miles down the road, which were big rivals.

"The people of Sunderland supported me amazingly well and hopefully we gave them a team that they enjoyed for 15 months. We tried to win games, tried to score goals, tried to be aggressive and play on the front foot. We had some wonderfully talented players like Clarke and Roberts.

“The recruitment at Sunderland has been very good over the period and they have some good footballers. My total allegiances are to Blues and we will be going out there to try and win a football match at the weekend. We want to make life as difficult for Sunderland as we can and, unfortunately for them, hopefully send their supporters back to the North East without any points.”

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

Predicted Birmingham XI: Ruddy, Drameh, Roberts, Bielik, Laird, Dozzell, Seung-ho, Bacuna, James, Roberts, Stansfield

Predicted Sunderland XI: Patterson, Hume, Ballard, O'Nien, Hjelde, Neil, Ekwah, Bellingham, Mundle, Clarke, Burstow

“I would like to welcome everyone associated with Sunderland to B9. In a part of the world I am very familiar with, I enjoyed 15 months in charge at the Stadium of Light.

"Now, though, I look forward to facing them as Birmingham City manager, in what is a good test for us as a team, and trying to make this a day to remember for our supporters."