Sunderland will attempt to claim a second straight victory when they welcome Cardiff City to the Stadium of Light for Saturday's Championship encounter.
The hosts occupy fourth place in the Championship standings, while the Bluebirds are operating at the opposite end of the table in 21st position.
Match preview
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After suffering back-to-back defeats, Sunderland returned to winning ways in last Friday's away meeting with Sheffield Wednesday.
Eliezer Mayenda netted a brace to fire Regis Le Bris' side to a 2-1 victory over the Owls, representing their third win in their last four away trips.
That result only further cemented Sunderland's place in the playoffs, with the Black Cats 13 points clear of the teams sitting outside of the top six, although they have significant work to do if they are to close the eight-point gap to the automatic promotion places.
While automatic promotion still seems like a tall order, Sunderland will still be determined to put pressure on the teams above them by putting together a strong run of results in their final 11 league games of the season, with the Black Cats hoping to build momentum by claiming back-to-back league wins for the first time since the start of January.
Sunderland saw their unbeaten home league record come to an end in their most recent outing at the Stadium of Light against Hull City, but they still boast the third-best home record in the division, having collected 36 points from their 17 Championship matches in front of their own supporters.
The Black Cats have won their last two meetings against Cardiff by a 2-0 scoreline, but with those victories taking place in Wales, the hosts enter Saturday's fixture with hopes of claiming their first head-to-head home victory since April 2014.
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Cardiff will head to the North-East on the back of consecutive defeats, including a 2-0 away defeat in last Friday's FA Cup fifth-round tie against Premier League Aston Villa.
They then fell to a 2-1 loss in Tuesday's clash against promotion-chasing Burnley, with Yousef Salech's effort not enough to stop Cardiff from suffering their first home league defeat since December 21.
As a result, Omer Riza's side remained in 21st position in the table and five points clear of 22nd-placed Luton Town, who they will face at the Cardiff City Stadium on Tuesday.
First, the Bluebirds must negotiate a tricky encounter against Sunderland, with the visitors looking to clinch just their second away league win of the season.
They can draw inspiration from the fact that they have won each of their last three away meetings with Sunderland, recording a 2-1 win in September 2017, before going on to secure 1-0 victories in November 2022 and September 2023.
However, they will be aware that they will have their work cut out to negate the league's fourth-highest scorers, especially as they enter the weekend with the third-worst defensive record in the Championship.
Team News
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Le Bris has revealed that Ian Poveda could be out of action for around a month after he picked up an injury in training ahead of last Friday's win over Sheffield Wednesday.
The hosts are also having to cope without the services of Dan Ballard, Aji Alese, Ahmed Abdullahi, Niall Huggins, Jayden Danns and Enzo Le Fee.
Winger Tommy Watson has recovered from injury and is now set to make his first appearance in a matchday squad since December.
As for the visitors, they remain without the services of Jak Alnwick, Ollie Tanner, David Turnbull, Jesper Daland, Yakou Meite and Joe Ralls.
Andy Rinomhota has been added to Cardiff's injury list after he was forced at half time of Tuesday's defeat to Burnley due to a hamstring problem.
In positive news, Leicester City loanee Will Alves is available for selection, having recovered from an injury that has kept him out of the last three matches.
Sunderland possible starting lineup:
Patterson; Hume, Mepham, O'Nien, Hjelde; Bellingham, Neil; Roberts, Rigg, Mundle; Mayenda
Cardiff City possible starting lineup:
Horvath; Fish, Goutas, Bagan; Ng, Colwill, Chambers, Mannsverk, O'Dowda; Ashford, Salech
We say: Sunderland 2-1 Cardiff City
Sunderland enter Saturday's contest with the third-best home record in the division, and we believe that they will make full use of home advantage to get the better of a Cardiff side that have lost two of their previous three away league games.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
