Sunderland 0 Middlesbrough 4: Highlights after Dan Neil red card as Sam Greenwood scores for visitors

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Sunderland’s Championship fixture against Middlesbrough at the Stadium of Light.

Both sides are in good form heading into the match and will be hoping to go into the international break on a high.

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

Stick around and refresh the page for live updates.

We’ll start with the Sunderland team news.

Alex Pritchard missed Wednesday’s win over Watford with a calf strain and isn’t expected to feature against Middlesbrough today.

Pierre Ekwah (dead leg) and Bradley Dack (hamstring) are not expected to return until after next week’s international, while Dennis Cirkin (hamstring) also remains sidelined.

Aji Alese (thigh) and Eliezer Mayenda (hamstring) have been stepping up their recoveries at the Academy of Light but will have to be eased back.

Timothee Pembele, Jay Matete and Corry Evans also remain out.

Here’s what Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray had to say when asked about facing his former club.

“I have been here a year or so now and we’ve played them twice. It’s a big game for me, I live on Teesside of course and everybody wants to talk football.

“They obviously had a tough start but have turned it around, won their last four games. From what I’m watching they are a very well coached team, have good rotations, good identity, we know how they play.

“We have to try and be aware of their strengths and weaknesses and see how the game goes but they have some good players.

“They seem to have taken a bit of time to gel with the new players but they play the same system and I think he’s just been trying to acclimatise his new players, because he lost a lot of quality in the summer, some loans went back to their parent clubs. Akpom was obviously sold to Holland.

“He’s probably just been getting the players into the system and it looks by the results that it’s starting to come together for them.”

After failing to record a win in their first seven league games this season, Michael Carrick’s side have won their last three league matches against Southampton, Watford and Cardiff.

Boro also have injury and fitness issues ahead of the match, with Carrick confirming Nottingham Forest loanee Lewis O’Brien is set to be sidelined for between two and three months after suffering leg and ankle injuries.

Defender Rav van den Berg could return to the squad after missing Tuesday’s 2-0 win over Cardiff, a match where captain Jonny Howson was also absent due to an illness.

To find out more we caught up with Craig Johns from the Teesside Gazette on the latest episode of The Roar Podcast.

You can listen to the full episode here

Here’s what Boro boss Michael Carrick had to say when asked about Sunderland and their head coach Mowbray:

“They are playing very well, have had a really good start to the season and have got a young team. There is a lot of talent there and Tony has done a terrific job in moulding them together.

“It’s a really good game for us, exciting game, the type of game you want to be involved in and test yourself. The boys will be looking forward to it, the supporters will be looking forward to it and let’s hope for a good game and a good performance from us to give us a chance of getting the right result.”

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

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

Predicted Middlesbrough XI: Dieng, Smith, Lenihan, Fry, Engel, Howson, Hackney, Jones, Greenwood, McGree, Coburn

"Today we face a difficult test against an in-form Middlesbrough side who will come here full of confidence.

“They’ve won four games in a row in all competitions, but we’re also coming into the game on a great run, so I’m sure it will be an entertaining fixture.

"With over 45,000 of you in attendance, we can’t wait to hear your incredible backing which hopefully drives us on to take all three points."

As expected Sunderland are unchanged following Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Watford, with Alex Pritchard still out with a calf issue.

Middlesbrough have made two changes following their 2-0 win over Cardiff last time out, with top scorer Riley McGree missing out with an injury.

Defender Rav van den Berg has recovered from a hamstring issue, while Matt Crooks also returns to the starting XI.

Boro captain Jonny Howson is back on the bench after missing the Cardiff match with an illness.

Boro have made a late change to their starting XI with Tommy Smith replacing Rav van den Berg who has picked up an injury in the warm-up.

Hume has gone back to right-back with Huggins moving to left-back after they switched flanks on Wednesday night.

Ba has started in the No 10 position with Roberts on the right.

Boro haven’t come here to sit back and defend.

They are switching to a back three in possession and looking to play out from the back.