Sunderland 0 Hull 1: Highlights as Liverpool loanee Fabio Carvalho gives visitors Championship win

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Sunderland's Championship match against Hull at the Stadium of Light.

Just a point separates the two teams ahead of tonight's 8pm kick-off, and a win for either side would move them back into the play-off places.

We'll have all the build-up ahead of the match, as well as in-game analysis, post-match reaction and more.

Stick around and refresh the page for live updates.

We'll start with the Sunderland team news.

Aji Alese picked up a knock in training on Wednesday, when the extent of the issue wasn't known.

Patrick Roberts (calf) and Bradley Dack (hamstring) remain sidelined and will be unavailable for the next few weeks. Dennis Cirkin is also still out with a hamstring issue, which required surgery and will keep the defender sidelined for a minimum of 12 weeks.

Corry Evans is still working his way back from an ACL injury, while Elliot Embleton is recovering from a thigh issue he suffered during his loan spell at Derby.

Niall Huggins is set to miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on a knee injury.

Here's what the Sunderland boss had to say about today's opponents, after the Black Cats beat Hull 1-0 at the MKM Stadium on Boxing Day:

"There won’t be much between the sides. That is the story of most games in this league.

"The focus is on these two big games at home.

"We played well in the reverse fixture. It is another game for my team to showcase themselves."

Hull are just a point behind Sunderland in the table but have lost their last two league games, and were knocked out of the FA Cup by Birmingham on Tuesday night.

Liam Rosenior's side will also be without several first-team players for tonight's match, with top scorer Aaron Connolly, Jean Michael Seri, Liam Delap, Cyrus Christie, Adama Traore and Jaden Philogene all unavailable.

To find out more, we caught up with Nathaniel Whittingham from The To Hull & Back Podcast on the latest episode of The Roar Podcast.

You can listen to the full episode HERE

Here's what Hull boss Liam Rosenior had to say ahead of tonight's match:

"They're a good team and Michael's a good coach. It's as simple as that, they are direct rivals for what we want to achieve in the league, but this is a big game for us.

"I'm not going to play it down and I'm saying it's not because of the league table. If we win the game, it doesn't mean we're definitely gonna make the playoffs if we lose the game, it doesn't mean we're definitely not gonna make the playoffs, but I just want to see us react to the setbacks. I want to see character, resilience and a determination about us and it is the perfect game for us.”

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

Predicted Sunderland XI: Patterson, Seelt, O'Nien, Ballard, Hume, Neil, Ekwah, Pritchard, Bellingham, Clarke, Rusyn

Predicted Hull XI: Allsop, Coyle, Jones, Greaves, Jacob, Morton, Slater, Tufan, Carvalho, Lokilo, Sharp

With less than two weeks of the transfer window remaining, there still haven't been any in or outgoings at Sunderland this month.

The Black Cats are trying to sign another striker, with Bournemouth forward Kieffer Moore a known loan target - with competition from multiple Championship clubs. If Sunderland are able to sign another forward, Hemir may be allowed to leave on loan.

Sunderland are also looking to sign another central midfielder and are assessing their options at full-back, following injuries to Cirkin and Huggins.

"Tonight, we face an opponent who we know well after the recent game on Boxing Day. That excellent and hard-fought win was our first away from home since September and was secured by a very good team goal by Jack Clarke.

"Something that will never be overlooked is the fantastic support you give us, both home and away. This was evident yet again down at Ipswich.

"We must now respond and reward your support with two big home performances starting with tonight against Hull and next weekend against Stoke City."