Patrick Roberts was a surprise omission as Tony Mowbray made two changes to the side that started Sunderland's midweek defeat at Blackburn Rovers. Roberts missed out after picking up a knock in training, and that meant Amad Diallo was brought into the side to take his place.
The second change was expected, following Aji Alese's injury at Ewood Park. Luke O'Nien moved from right-back to his usual role at centre-back to plug the gap left by Alese alongside Danny Batth.
And with Lynden Gooch not yet ready to return from a foot injury, Mowbray brought Trai Hume into the side at right-back. Burnley boss Vincent Kompany made two changes, in his case to the side that was held to a 1-1 draw at Birmingham City in midweek.
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Johann Gudmundsson and Ashley Barnes came into the starting XI, with Jack Cork and Jay Rodriguez dropping to the bench. You can follow the match as it happens in our live blog here, with all the reaction and analysis to follow the final whistle. Here's how the two sides line up this afternoon.
Today's teams
Sunderland: Patterson, Hume, O'Nien, Batth, Cirkin, Evans, Neil, Amad, Embleton, Pritchard, Clarke
Subs: Bass, Wright, Bennette, Ba, Michut, Dajaku, Matete
Burnley: Muric, Roberts, Harwood-Bellis, Taylor, Vitinho, Cullen, Brownhill, Tella, Gudmundsson, Zaroury, Barnes
Subs: Peacock-Farrell, Cork, Rodriguez, Benson, McNally, Bastien, Dervisoglu
READ NEXT
- Tony Mowbray is no fan of VAR being introduced into the Championship
- Sunderland's young quartet are not yet ready to start Championship games
- Roberts says Sunderland have goalscoring quality in squad even without strikers
- Ally McCoist tips Sunderland for the play-offs after Tony Mowbray appointment
- Kristjaan Speakman's 'excellent' verdict of Sunderland's new academy manager
