Sunderland v Man City preview

Bent: Midweek hat-trick

PREDICTIONS:

Skysports.com prediction: Sunderland 1 Man City 2

SKYBET odds: Sunderland 9/4, Draw 12/5, City 6/5

One to watch: Carlos Tevez

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Both Sunderland and Manchester City will aim to back up impressive victories as they clash at the Stadium of Light on Sunday, live on Sky Sports 1.

Sunderland hammered Bolton 4-0 on Tuesday to end a wretched run of 14 Premier League games without a win.

That alarming slump saw the Black Cats fall from eighth to 16th place, just three points clear of the relegation places.

But that morale-boosting victory, which saw Darren Bent reach 18 league goals for the season with a hat-trick, moved Steve Bruce's men back up to 13th and eased relegation fears on Wearside.

While Sunderland had been expected to end their winless run against a Bolton side that is also struggling, City's 4-2 win at Chelsea a fortnight ago came as some surprise.

Chelsea's last league defeat at Stamford Bridge was in November 2008 but City stunned the then-league leaders to claim their first victory there in 17 years and their first league double against the Blues since 1957.

That gave City's bid for Champions League qualification a huge boost and it has since been given further impetus with Liverpool losing at Wigan on Monday.

Although Tottenham currently occupy that much-coveted fourth place, City are level on points and have a game in hand.

City have won their last nine games against the Black Cats and could do with stretching that run into double figures given Aston Villa are four points behind the Blues with a game in hand on Roberto Mancini's men.

Team news

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce will be unable to name an unchanged line-up as skipper Lorik Cana begins a two-match ban for picking up his 10th yellow card of the season against Bolton.

Lee Cattermole was a fitness doubt as he has just returned from a hamstring problem and appeared to have aggravated it when he came off in the second half against Bolton.

But the England U21 international is expected to be fit, with Bruce set to choose between Bolo Zenden and Kieran Richardson, who has been struggling with a calf injury, to partner Cattermole in the centre of midfield.

Jordan Henderson (ankle) and Andy Reid (hamstring) are out of contention, though, as it looks like the midfield pair will need another week to regain fitness.

City are still without striker Emmanuel Adebayor, who has three games remaining of his four-match suspension.

But Patrick Vieira is available again after serving his three-match ban so Roberto Mancini may bring back the French star to freshen up his midfield, although Martin Petrov remains out injured.

Winger Shaun Wright-Phillips could be handed a recall after scoring one and making another in an impressive substitute appearance for England in midweek.

Paraguay striker Roque Santa Cruz is pushing for more action after also claiming a goal and an assist in midweek, although 21-goal Carlos Tevez and Craig Bellamy are in tip-top form, each bagging a brace at Chelsea.

Defender Kolo Toure (knee) is pushing for a place in the starting line-up after being on the bench at Chelsea.

Possible starting XIs:

Sunderland: Gordon, Hutton, Turner, Mensah, Ferdinand, Campbell, Cattermole, Zenden, Malbranque, Bent, Jones.

Man City: Given, Richards, Lescott, Kompany, Bridge, Zabaleta, Barry, De Jong, Johnson, Bellamy, Tevez.