Bristol City vs Sunderland. Sky Bet Championship.
Ashton GateAttendance22,580.
Friday 9 February 2018 12:45, UK
Bristol City are again without Nathan Baker for the visit of Sky Bet Championship strugglers Sunderland.
Baker serves the second game of a three-match ban and skipper Bailey Wright is set to move across to central defence, with Korey Smith likely to fill in at right-back.
Matty Taylor (hernia), Eros Pisano (hamstring), Jens Hegeler (knee), Callum O'Dowda (ankle) and Milan Djuric (groin) all remain out. But City are waiting on goalkeeper Frank Fielding, who has missed the last three games with a thigh problem.
Sunderland boss Chris Coleman will be without goalkeeper Robbin Ruiter after he was ruled out for up to 12 weeks with a badly dislocated finger. Ruiter was on the bench for last weekend's 2-0 home defeat by Ipswich as deadline-day signing Lee Camp was handed a debut, and Jason Steele is in line to replace him.
Midfielders Jonny Williams and Paddy McNair could return from injury, with the Wales international having played 90 minutes for the club's Under-23s on Monday evening. However, Adam Matthews, Marc Wilson and Lamine Kone are still out along with long-term casualties Darron Gibson and Duncan Watmore.
This is the first meeting between these teams at Ashton Gate in any competition since February 1999 - Sunderland won 1-0 that day with a penalty from Kevin Phillips.
Indeed, Sunderland haven't lost at Ashton Gate since October 1993, when the Robins won 2-0 in a league fixture with goals from Wayne Allison and Ian Baird.
Bristol City have lost six of their eight matches in 2018 in all competitions (W1 D1), having lost just six of their final 37 matches of 2017.
Chris Coleman has never beaten Bristol City as a manager (D2 L2).
Bobby Reid has scored double the number of goals any other Bristol City player has managed in the Championship this season (12).
Sunderland have conceded the first goal in 20 Championship matches this season and are yet to win any (W0 D5 L15).
It would be a big ask for Bristol City to force their way back into automatic promotion contention now, especially when you consider the form of some of the clubs above them.
Sunderland, however, provide them with a fantastic opportunity to claim a victory to help keep the pressure up on Derby and Aston Villa. Chris Coleman's team look bereft of confidence and their last two defeats against Birmingham and Ipswich have been utterly dismal. This is a home win for me.
David Prutton predicts: 2-0 (6/1 with Sky Bet)
