Sunderland 1 Ipswich 2 Town: Reaction after Trai Hume red card with late Dan Neil goal not enough for a point

The EFL season is back!

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Sunderland’s first Championship game of the season against Ipswich Town.

We’ll have all the build-up ahead of today’s 5pm kick-off, as well as in-game analysis and post-match reaction.

Just stick around and refresh the page for live updates from the Stadium of Light.

We’ll start with the Sunderland team news, with several players still sidelined following the end of last season.

Ross Stewart, Corry Evans, Aji Alese and Elliot Embleton will all miss the start of the upcoming campaign and haven’t featured in pre-season.

Defender Jenson Seelt has been recovering from an ongoing ankle issue, while Jay Matete picked up a knee injury during Sunderland’s US tour and is set to be sidelined for around two months.

New striker Eliezer Mayenda has also been ruled out with a hamstring injury.

Luke O’Nien wasn’t in the squad for Tuesday’s friendly match at Hartlepool due to a personal reason but is expected to be available for today’s match.

Winger Isaac Lihadji has left Wearside to join Qatar-based side Al-Duhail SC.

Here’s what Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray, a former Ipswich player, had to say about today’s opponents and their head coach Kieran McKenna

“I think their coach is very bright.

“Watching them, they play attractive football and finished the season strong.

“They scored lots of goals, particularly at home they were really dominant.

“It’s a great club, a lovely part of the world and I’m pleased Ipswich are on their way back really.

“They are a well-coached team, Kieran has obviously come from a Man United background.

“They’ve recruited well and will be a test for us that’s for sure.”

Ipswich won promotion from League One with 98 points last term and are being tipped to have another strong campaign.

To find out more, we caught up with Ross Halls from the East Anglian Daily Times on the latest episode of The Roar Podcast.

You can listen to the full podcast here

Here’s what he said when asked about Ipswich’s key players:

“Conor Chaplin is a fans’ favourite, I think Sunderland fans would love him. He’s just here, there and everywhere.

“He just finds space out of nowhere and he scores. He’s a clinical finisher, any rebounds he’s there.

“Other players, of course we have to mention Sam Morsy, our skipper. He has Championship experience and is that midfielder general who just doesn’t want to lose.

“We have a team full of sort of unknowns in that they haven’t got much Championship experience. The two centre-halves Cameron Burgess and Luke Woolfenden have both played a few times in the Championship but not many. It will be interesting to see how they can do.

“Leif Davis is another player who has been amazing, signed from Leeds last summer. It took him a while to adapt and get into the team but his assist numbers were incredible.”

Ipswich will be without first-choice goalkeeper Christian Walton for today’s match after the 27-year-old suffered a tear to the plantar fascia in his foot.

Former Sunderland forward Nathan Broadhead and midfielder Massimon Luongo have also been managing injury issues over the last week but are set to travel with the Ipswich squad for the Sunderland fixture.

When asked about the Black Cats, Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna

“I’m sure they will look to continue the good work they did last year.

“They are a young team and seem to be following a model of recruiting high-quality, young, players and they have done that well over the last few years.

“They are very well coached by Tony and have a positive playing style with a good structure where players can express themselves.

“They did well last year and have recruited again from the same kind of model, so I’m sure they will be looking to have another positive season.

“For us it’s a really good test, which is what we’re going to be facing every week, but this is a good one to get started with.”

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

Predicted Sunderland XI: Patterson, Hume, Ballard, O’Nien, Cirkin, Neil, Ekwah, Roberts, Pritchard, Clarke, Hemir

Predicted Ipswich XI: Hladky, Ball, Woolfenden, Burgess, Davis, Burns, Morsy, Taylor, Chaplin, Hutchinson, Hirst

Sunderland are still looking to bolster their striker options before the end of the transfer window.

When asked about potential new signings earlier this week, Mowbray said:

“We’re working really hard on that.

“We’ve got bids in for players. We’re pushing hard to make sure we have additions in that part of the pitch.

“Hemir wasn’t really bought as a number one centre forward right away, he was brought as a project to nurture and to grow and to give him some game time. We didn’t bring him in to play 46 games right away. The hope would be he could play some, someone else could play some, maybe playing two together at times.

“I’m pretty sure that we will have some help for Hemir at the top end of the pitch, whether that be before the season starts or certainly before the window closes.

“The key for the football club is that we give support to Hemir and Eliezer, who obviously has picked up an injury.

“I think we need another attacking player in the building, and I know we’re working hard to do that.”

“It’s great to see over 40,000 of you here today - the atmosphere generated in our final home game last season was incredible, and I have no doubt it will be replicated today and for the rest of the campaign.

“Reflecting on pre-season as a whole, I’m pleased with the progress the team has made.

“We’ve faced several different opponents who all presented us different challenges, which should stand us in good stead for the next 10 months.

“Ipswich are a well-coached team full of talented players, but as I said last season, we’ll always try and take the game to the opposition.”