Sunderland 1 Coventry City 1: Story of the match after Viktor Gyokeres’ goal and Jack Clarke opener

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

Predicted Sunderland XI: Patterson; Gooch, Wright, Ballard, Cirkin; Evans, Neil, Roberts, Pritchard, Clarke; Stewart

Predicted Coventry XI: Moore; Hyam, McFadzean, Panzo; Dabo, Sheaf, Hamer, Bidwell; Allen; Godden, Gyokeres

We’re hearing that Coventry playmaker Callum O’Hare will miss the match with a serious hamstring injury.

Here’s what Coventry boss Mark Robins has had to say about Sunderland.

“They’re on the back of a promotion and, all in all, they’re 16 games unbeaten in the league. We know it’s a tough place to go with a huge crowd and we’re expecting a really good atmosphere.

“We’ve done well during pre-season in terms of the results - and performances have been alright - but we need to step that up again.

“We’ll have our fingers crossed for a good start, but it isn’t the be-all and end-all. We’ve got to try and work into it and I would really like us to start on the front foot and have a really good day up at Sunderland.”

Coventry finished 12th in the Championship last season and are going into their third consecutive season in the second tier under Mark Robins.

The Sky Blues won all six friendly matches in pre-season, while striker Viktor Gyökeres scored 17 league goals during the last campaign.

To find out more we caught up with Glenn Watkin from Sky Blue Fans TV to find out more.

Here’s what he said when asked about how Coventry will set up:

“I’m pretty sure we’ll go with a back three and wing-backs.

“The major question mark is who plays in goal, is it Simon Moore or Ben Wilson so that’s a bit up in the air.

“It’s whether we go with Gyokeres, Matt Godden and O’Hare or we go Jamie Allen, O’Hare and one from Godden and Gyokeres, that’s the dilemma.

“I would hope that Robins goes with the more attacking option, he has a bit of a reputation of going a bit conservative and maybe not using the subs enough.

“A lot of it will depend on how Sunderland will play. If Sunderland sit in deep it’s going to make it hard for us to break them down because we thrive on space and width.”

Read more HERE

Here’s what Neil had to say about today’s opponents.

“I do think we’ve got a difficult start.

“Unfortunately for us I think people will underestimate Coventry and I certainly don’t.

“They’re a very good side and it’ll be a tough match for us. The first five or six games are not easy, but we’ll be confident in what we’re doing.”

We’ll start with the latest on the transfer front.

Sunderland will continue to search for added depth up front despite the arrival of Ellis Simms on a season-long loan deal from Everton.

The club retain an interest in Simms’ Everton team-mate Nathan Broadhead, while Alex Neil has made it clear he would still like to strengthen his forward options.

“I’d imagine it will be more than one,” said Neil.

“We need to bring some bodies in to make sure the squad is competitive, and so that if anything happens we have those reinforcements.” The Sunderland boss added: “We’re four or five or short from last season.

“It [continuity] can be an advantage to a point, but we’re still short numbers wise on last season.One vital component coming up was to keep as much of the group as possible together.

Sunderland will kick off their 2022/23 Championship campaign against Coventry City today, with a crowd of over 40,000 set to attend the match at the Stadium of Light.

Fans have been advised to arrive as early as possible ahead of the 12pm kick-off time, with a display organised by Spirit of ‘37 set to take place at 11:50am.

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

Stick around and refresh the page to follow all the action.