Sunderland 1 Sheffield United 2: Highlights as Cats are beaten after Tommy Doyle and James McAtee goals

Sunderland were beaten 2-1 by Sheffield United at the Stadium of Light – despite taking a first-half lead.
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Despite some early pressure, the Black Cats took the lead when Edouard Michut scored his first goal for the club with 30 minutes played.

The hosts equalised on the stroke of half-time, though, when Manchester City loanee James McAtee found space in the box and converted with a low finish.

Another City loanee then scored the winner as Tommy Doyle’s free-kick went straight in just after the hour mark.

Here’s how the game played out:

RECAP: Sunderland 1 (Michut, 30) Sheffield United 2 (McAtee, 45) (Doyle, 61)

Key Events

  • Sunderland XI: Patterson, Hume (Gooch, 72), Ballard, Batth, O’Nien (Ekwah, 86), Neil, Michut (Pritchard, 72) , Roberts, Ba, Clarke, Gelhardt (Lihadji, 72)
  • Subs: Bass, Anderson, Gooch, Bennette, Ekwah, Lihadji, Pritchard
  • Sheffield United XI: Foderingham, Baldock (Bogle, 78), Ahmedhodzic, Egan, Robinson, Lowe, Doyle (Fleck, 78), Berge, McAtee (Norwood, 78), Ndiaye (Sharp, 90+1), Jebbison (McBurnie, 70)
  • Subs: Davies, Bogle, Basham, Norwood, Fleck, Sharp, McBurnie

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Sunderland’s Championship fixture against Sheffield United.

The Black Cats will be hoping to make it back-to-back wins following Sunday’s 1-0 victory at Norwich.

We’ll have all the build-up ahead of tonight’s 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.

The Black Cats will still be without several first-team players for tonight’s match, including Manchester United loanee Amad.

The forward missed the weekend’s trip to Norwich with a hamstring problem, and though a scan revealed there is no major damage – he has continued to feel some discomfort.

Alex Pritchard could return to the squad after missing the Norwich win, yet Dennis Cirkin is still recovering from concussion.

Ross Stewart, Corry Evans, Elliot Embleton and Aji Alese remain out with long-term injuries.

Mowbray on Sheffield United

Here’s what Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray had to say about tonight’s opponents.

“They are second and fourth in the league, so they are not easy challenges.

“But I feel and I hope that the supporters are with the team and as long as they see that we are trying to give everything in each game

“We can’t dominate every game, every team, there are so many different ways to play football and every week is a learning curve for our team – when to play long, when to play short, when to pass through teams and when to go over the top of them.”

How Sheffield United are shaping up

Sheffield United may be second in the table, yet Paul Heckingbottom’s side have lost four of their last six league games.

Manchester City loanee Tommy Doyle could return to the squad after missing the side’s last three games as the club manage the midfielder’s workload.

Heckingbottom will be able to pick striker Oli McBurnie tonight, after he survived yet another game without picking up a two game suspension.

McBurnie has picked up nine yellow cards this season and is just one booking away from a ban.

Heckingbottom on Sunderland

And here’s what Sheffield United boss Heckingbottom had to say about Sunderland, where he started his senior career as a player despite not making a first-team appearance for the Black Cats.

“Sunderland is a good club and there’s lots of people there I still know

“They’ve got a good manager and a team that can really hurt you if you let them so we’ve got to make sure that’s not the case by performing as we know we can, with that intensity. They won’t hold back against us.”

“I lived up there and started up there. Some of us went our different ways but ended up playing together or coming across each other again further down the line.

“One of those was Alex Rae, who I was chatting to when we went down to Reading. It was a good group and even though I was one of the younger ones, I really felt a part of it.”

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

Predicted Sunderland XI: Patterson, Hume, Ballard, Batth, O’Nien, Neil, Michut, Roberts, Clarke, Ba, Gelhardt

Predicted Sheffield United XI: Foderingham; Bogle, Egan, Ahmedhodzic, Robinson, Lowe, Berge, Norwood, Doyle, Ndiaye, McBurnie

We’ve arrived at the Stadium of Light

Mowbray in his pre-match programme notes

“Tonight’s game is another huge test for us, but as always, we’ll go out there and give it our all in front of our home support.

“Sheffield United are one of the best sides in the division as highlighted by their league position and they’re a talented side – they were unfortunate not to gain promotion last season and have regrouped and gone again this campaign.

“We’ve beaten some top sides at home this season including Blackburn Rovers and Middlesbrough, so we should go into the fixture looking forward to the challenge.

“The players should take a lot of confidence from Sunday’s result, and go into this evening’s game with the belief they can put in another strong performance.

“I’d like to thank you, the supporters, for sticking with us this season – your backing both home and away has been incredible.”

How Sheffield United will start