After making three changes for Sunderland's midweek win at QPR, Tony Mowbray reverted to his strongest line-up against Bristol City at the Stadium of Light. The three changes he made at Loftus Road were reversed, with Dan Neil and Edouard Michut returning to the starting XI in midfield, in place of Luke O'Nien and Alex Pritchard.
And on-loan Manchester United forward Amad came back into the side, replacing Abdoullah Ba. O'Nien, Pritchard, and Ba were all included on the bench.
Mowbray had switched to a 4-4-2 system against QPR but the personnel changes this afternoon suggest he will move back to his usual 4-2-3-1 formation. Bristol City boss Nigel Pearson made two changes, in his case to the side that drew 1-1 at home to relegation strugglers Wigan Athletic on Wednesday night.
READ MORE: Sunderland vs Bristol City LIVE: All the build-up from the Stadium of Light
Mark Sykes and Sam Bell came into the side, with Andreas Weimann and Harry Cornick dropping to the bench.
You can follow all the action on our live blog here.
Today's teams
Sunderland: Patterson, Hume, Ballard, Batth, Alese, Neil, Michut, Roberts, Amad, Clarke, Gelhardt
Subs: Bass, Cirkin, O'Nien, Ba, Pritchard, Lihadji, Ekwah
Bristol City: O'Leary, Tanner, Vyner, Atkinson, Pring, James, Williams, Sykes, Scott, Mehmeti, Bell
Subs: Haikin, Dasilva, Cornick, King, Weimann, Wells, Kalas
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