Sunderland’s unbeaten home run under threat against Man City

Manchester City travel to the Stadium of Light on Thursday evening to take on Sunderland in the Premier League’s New Year’s Day fixture.

The Black Cats battled to a 1-1 draw against Leeds United last time out, extending their unbeaten run at home in the Premier League to eight games this campaign – five wins and three draws.

City secured a hard-fought 2-1 victory at Nottingham Forest last weekend as Pep Guardiola’s men aim to extend their winning streak to seven matches.

Match preview

Sunderland have lost their last three Premier League home games against Man City, having won four in a row against them at the Stadium of Light before this.

Since drawing 2-2 in April 2014, Manchester City have won their last seven Premier League matches against Sunderland, last enjoying a longer winning run against them between December 2002 and December 2009 (nine wins).

This will be the third New Year’s Day meeting between Sunderland and Man City in the Premier League. The Black Cats won 1-0 at home in 2012, while the Citizens won 3-2 at the Etihad in 2015.

The Black Cats haven’t lost their first league game in any of the last seven calendar years (W3 D4) since a 1-0 home loss to Barnsley in 2018 in the Championship.

The Citizens have won their first league game in 18 of the last 19 calendar years, including the last 13 in a row. The only exception in this run was a 1-0 defeat to Sunderland on New Year’s Day 2012.

Guardiola’s side have scored in their last 32 Premier League matches in January since a 4-0 defeat to Everton in 2017, netting 28 goals in their last eight in January (W7 D1).

City have lost just one of their last 30 away Premier League matches against promoted clubs (W23 D6), losing 3-2 to Norwich City in September 2019. They’re unbeaten in their last 17 since that defeat at Carrow Road (W14 D3).

Manchester City have won their last six Premier League matches, their longest run in a single campaign since winning their final nine en route to the league title in 2023/24.

This will be Man City striker Erling Haaland’s first Premier League match at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light – the Norwegian has scored at 22 of the other 23 venues he’s played at (inc. the Etihad), failing only in three games at Anfield.

Rayan Cherki has been involved in eight goals in his last nine Premier League appearances for Man City (1 goal, 7 assists), both scoring and assisting in a game for the first time against Nottingham Forest last time out.

Team news

Sunderland

Ajibola Alese and Daniel Ballard are on the sidelines for the host.

Habib Diarra, Bertrand Traore, Chemsdine Talbi, Noah Sadiki, Arthur Masuaku and Reinildo Mandava are away on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Manchester City

John Stones, Mateo Kovacic, Jeremy Doku and Oscar Bobb are sidelined with injuries.

Omar Marmoush and Rayan Ait-Nouri are away with Egypt and Algeria, respectively, at the AFCON.

Predicted line-ups

Sunderland: Roefs, Hume, Mukiele, Alderete, Cirkin, Xhaka, Geertruida, Rigg, Le Fee, Adingra, Brobbey.

Manchester City: Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Silva, Gonzalez, Reijnders, Cherki, Foden, Haaland.