Ronan Curtis fires a warning to Sunderland ahead of clash with promotion rivals Portsmouth

The Black Cats and Pompey became well-acquainted last season as they met on five separate occasions – and Curtis believes that prior knowledge will beneficial when they travel to Wearside on Saturday, August 17.

And with the south coast side having won their last two games, the forward has made a bold claim having insisted his side are heading to the North East with the sole aim of picking up another three points.

Indeed, Pompey make the long journey to the Stadium of Light off the back of a thumping win over Tranmere which erased the memory of an opening day defeat to Shrewsbury Town.

And Curtis has warned Sunderland that they have eyes only for another triumph on Saturday – as Jack Ross’ side continue to search for a first league triumph.

“We knew what we had to do to bounce back from the previous Saturday at Shrewsbury and that’s two clean sheets in a row now,” he said, speaking to Portsmouth’s official website.

“Hopefully we can keep the winning run going and see how far we can go – we want to keep picking up three points.

“We played against Sunderland on quite a few occasions last season and certainly know what they’re capable of.

“But we also know just what we’re capable of and the plan for us is to go there and get another victory.”