Sunderland vs Wolverhampton Wanderers. Sky Bet Championship.
Stadium of LightAttendance28,452.
Friday 4 May 2018 11:23, UK
Sunderland caretaker boss Robbie Stockdale will bring down the curtain on a disastrous Sky Bet Championship season with the visit of champions Wolves to the Stadium of Light.
Stockdale, who was placed in charge after Chris Coleman's departure at the weekend, is likely to be without Republic of Ireland winger Aiden McGeady, who sat out last Friday night's 2-1 defeat at Fulham after it was revealed he had been playing with pain-killing injections in his heel.
Midfielder Lee Cattermole was also absent as he battled a knee injury, although full-back Bryan Oviedo could return after missing the trip to Craven Cottage with hamstring and lower back problems. Ethan Robson, Ovie Ejaria and Joel Asoro got the nod at Fulham and will hope to have done enough to catch Stockdale's eye.
Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo will go into the final game of the campaign needing just a draw to reach the 100-point mark and with the title already in the bag. He has fielded the same team for the last two games, a 4-0 win at Bolton and goalless draw at home to Sheffield Wednesday.
Defender Ryan Bennett (knock) and striker Ivan Cavaleiro (hamstring) missed both, but with top spot already secured, there is no need to take risks. Wolves will run out 10 points clear of second-placed Cardiff and already planning for life in the Premier League.
The Black Cats are winless in their last six league matches against Wolves (D2 L4).
These sides haven't met at the Stadium of Light since April 2012, a goalless draw in the Premier League.
Sunderland have lost eight of their last 10 final league matches in a season (W1 D1) with one of those defeats to Wolves in 2009-10.
Wolves, meanwhile, have won their final league match of a season in each of the last four seasons since losing 2-0 to Brighton in 2012-13.
No Championship side has lost more points from winning positions than the Black Cats (28).
A Wolves win would see them hit 102 points for the season and be the first side since Leicester City (also 102 points) in 2013-14 to win over 100 points in a season in the Championship.
Ruben Neves has scored six goals from outside of the box this season - two more than any other player in the division.
