Sunderland 2 Watford 2: Highlights as Patrick Roberts goal give Cats late point at the Stadium of Light

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Sunderland’s Championship fixture against Watford at the Stadium of Light.

A sell-out crowd is set to attend the match after 44,827 tickets were sold to home supporters.

Tony Mowbray’s side have two games remaining in the regular league campaign, and two wins would probably see them finish in the play-offs.

We’ll have live updates, analysis and reaction throughout the day.

Mowbray said in Thursday’s press conference that he will be picking from the same group of players who were available for last weekend’s win at West Brom.

That means Dan Ballard remains out with a hamstring issue, yet the defender could return if Sunderland make it into the play-offs.

The Black Cats will be without several first-team players for the rest of the campaign, including: Corry Evans, Ross Stewart, Danny Batth, Aji Alese and Jewison Benntte and Elliot Embleton.

Watford have dropped to 13th in the Championship and won just two of their nine games following Chris Wilder’s appointment as head coach in March.

It means The Hornets can no longer finish in the play-offs after a hugely-disappointing campaign following their relegation from the Premier League.

To find out more we caught up with Andrew French from the Watford Observer on the latest episode of The Roar Podcast.

You can listen to the full episode here

Here’s what he said when asked about this season’s disappointment:

“It’s been a massive underachievement.

“You don’t sit in the Championship, which is a notoriously difficult division, and think to get out of it easily. But when you’re a relegated team and have retained players like Ismaila Sarr and Joao Pedro, I think the minimum anyone at Watford was expecting was the play-offs.

“They have been so inconsistent that you could never at any point think they are going to make the top six. The stat that backs that up is that they have only managed to win consecutive games once this season.”

Here’s what Mowbray had to say when asked about today’s opponents:

“There’s a huge threat I would suggest from Watford. If you think of Ismaila Sarr and Joao Pedro, two of them really, Asprilla.

“They have lots and lots of really good attacking players, Assombalonga and Davies, they are a real threat with lots of experience, lots of talent, lots of speed, lots of individuality.

“For whatever reason, I’m not at that club, they have obviously had some problems and issues. The coach has changed a few times and stuff.

“What I do know is when I look and see the individual talent of Pedro and Sarr and Davis, it’s a game we have to really focus and concentrate on.

“If they bring their best game they can give anybody in this division problems so we have to be very mindful of that.”

And here’s what Watford boss Wilder said when asked about today’s match:

“I’m a huge admirer of Tony. I’ve known him a long time and he’s done an absolutely terrific job wherever he’s been.

“I played against him as a player and have watched his managerial career, and he’s had a fabulous one.

“I’m envious of course because they have something to play for, we have something to play for and we all know we should have something a little bit more to play for, but we haven’t and have to blame ourselves for that.

“But I’m an admirer of Tony and it’s a huge football club, and it’s a massive test.”

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

Predicted Sunderland XI: Patterson, Gooch, Hume, O’Nien, Cirkin, Neil, Michut, Roberts, Amad, Clarke, Gelhardt

Predicted Watford XI: Bachmann, Andrews, Porteous, Kabasele, Kamara, Louza, Bacuna, Kone, Sarr, Pedro, Davis

Here’s what the table looks like after Millwall’s 3-2 win over Blackpool last night.

A win today would move Sunderland back into the top six.

“Reflecting on last weekend’s win at West Brom, I was proud of the team’s performance and character to come from a goal behind and claim three points.

“The Hawthorns is a tough place to go – they had the better of the early exchanges, but once we resolved some issues, I thought we gave them plenty of problems.

“It was amazing to think we were behind going into half-time having controlled so much of the game, but we always believe we can hurt the opposition and kicking into towards you, our supporters, in the second half always gives us a lift.

“I’d like to say congratulations to Luke O’Nien following the birth of his boy – I’m sure it was an incredible few days for him and his family, and to produce the performance he did is a credit to him.

“The players have trained well again this week and we’re all raring to go in front of over 45,000 of you today – as always, we’ll give it our all to come away with the points.

“With just two games to go we need to attack and be aggressive, and see how the season unfolds over the next 10 days.

“It’s incredible that a team with such little experience in the Championship is still in contention for the play-offs – we’ve come a long way this season as a group, but we’re fully focused on the remaining two league games.

“Finally, I’d like to thank you all for your outstanding support both home and away this season – the connection we have felt with you has pushed us on and we’ll need you all again today.

“It’s going to be a tough game with a magnificent atmosphere, but I hope we can make you proud to be a Sunderland supporter.”