Sunderland 0 Sheffield Wednesday 2: Highlights as Liam Palmer and Josh Windass goals keep Owls up

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Sunderland’s Championship match against Sheffield Wednesday at the Stadium of Light.

After a disappointing end to the campaign, the Black Cats will be looking to end the season on a high in front of their own fans.

Wednesday may also need a point to secure their place in the Championship next season.

We’ll have live updates, analysis reaction and more from the Stadium of Light throughout the day.

We’ll start with the Sunderland team news.

Dennis Cirkin has returned to training following a hamstring injury but won’t be risked during today’s match following a lengthy layoff. Nazariy Rusyn will also miss today’s fixture as he continues to recover from a calf issue.

Dan Neil (below) and Elliot Embleton will also be targeting a return for pre-season, while long-term absentees Niall Huggins and Jenson Seelt remain sidelined.

Here’s what the Sunderland boss had to say about today’s match:

“It has the potential to be a very good day. We owe the fans a good result.

“We know they may need a result so they will be fully focused. I think it open up to be an exciting game.”

Wednesday only need to draw against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light to secure their place in the Championship for next season.

Danny Rohl’s side are unbeaten in their last five matches and have recorded back-to-back wins against Blackburn and West Brom to move out of the relegation zone.

The Owls would only be relegated if both Birmingham beat Norwich and Plymouth beat Hull.

Here’s what Wednesday boss Danny Rohl had to say when asked about facing Sunderland.

“I think they want to try and say goodbye to the fans and take some points now. Of course they have had some up and downs but when you look at the results, in the last five games they didn’t concede so many goals. They didn’t score too many goals but they are still trying. 

“It’s a young group of players with high potential, it’s a high-potential squad. If they come in a flow and we are not ready for this then of course they can play a little bit with freedom and this is always dangerous. For us we need to show them how strong we are, show them our mindset, and if we do this we have a great opportunity.”

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

Predicted Sunderland XI: Patterson, Hume, O’Nien, Ballard, Alese, Ekwah, Styles, Rigg, Aouchiche, Clarke, Bellingham

Predicted Sheffield Wednesday XI: Beadle, Palmer, Iorfa, Bernard, Valentin, Vaulks, Bannan, Johnson, Musaba, Ugbo, Windass

“Today, we pay tribute to one of the club’s greatest-ever players, ‘The King’ Charlie Hurley - it’s been amazing to see so many tributes. My thoughts and wishes go out to his friends and family.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to replicate the heights of last year and earn a play-off place, but like myself, this group of players will have learnt a lot from this season that will benefit them moving forward.”