West Brom 0 Sunderland 1: Highlights after Pierre Ekwah goal and Brandon Thomas-Asante red card

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Sunderland’s Championship match against West Brom at the Hawthorns.

The Black Cats will be looking to build on Tuesday’s goalless draw against Leeds United, yet it won’t be easy against a Baggies side who are on a 10-match unbeaten run.

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.

In terms of team news, Corry Evans (below) has returned to training following a minor setback but won’t be ready for today’s match. Dennis Cirkin is still unavailable, yet it’s hoped he’ll be able to return before the end of this season following a hamstring issue.

Nazariy Rusyn and Elliot Embleton also remain sidelined while Jenson Seelt and Niall Huggins are facing longer absences.

Here’s what Sunderland boss Mike Dodds had to say about West Brom in yesterday’s press conference:

“It will be a really tough game. I have said before that I think the coach is one of the best in the league. I think he has a talented squad that he is getting the maximum out of.

“The Championship is one of the toughest leagues in the world and West Brom are another really good side.

“We are not going there to draw the game, I can assure you all that.”

West Brom sit fifth in the Championship following a 2-0 win over Rotherham on Wednesday, with the Baggies close to securing a play-off place.

Carlos Corberan’s side haven’t lost for 10 matches, while former Sunderland midfielder Yann M’Vila made his first start for the club against Rotherham.

To find out more, we caught up with West Brom writer Jonny Drury from the Express & Star on the latest episode of The Roar Podcast.

Here’s what Corberan had to say when asked about Sunderland in yesterday’s press conference.

“I think sometimes the position a team finds themselves in in the table shows more about injuries and turbulent moments than the level of the squad. “Right now, if I analyse Sunderland’s squad it’s easy to see that they are a very good squad and I saw that against Leeds the other night.

“They drew with them at Elland Road and they’ve kept two clean sheets in-a-row now. It’s not easy to do that.

“They are a very attacking team with a lot of good players. They’ll be competitive and it’s a massive game.”

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

Predicted West Brom XI: Palmer, Furlong, Kipre, Bartley, Reach, Yokuslu, Mowatt, Wallace, Johnston, Swift, Thomas-Asante

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

“In England, it doesn’t matter whether you are positioned in the promotion places, relegation spots or in mid-table - all teams show the maximum amount of respect and attempt to win every game.”

“That is why we know Sunderland have the ability to pose us a difficult challenge this afternoon, so we must be prepared for another battle here at The Hawthorns.”