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Martin O'Neill made numerous changes to his team, including what looks to be a very unusual looking back four.
Simon Mignolet lines up in goal with a back four of Craig Gardner, Danny Rose, Carlos Cuellar and Matt Kilgallon, while the midfield and attack pretty much pick themselves.
David Meyler has been recalled from loan at Hull City but picked up a fifth yellow card in his final appearance for the Tigers, and in the absence of John O'Shea and Lee Cattermole, Carlos Cuellar takes the captaincy.
Sunderland (4-4-1-1): Simon Mignolet; Craig Gardner, Danny Rose, Matt Kilgallon, Carlos Cuellar; Adam Johnson, Seb Larsson, Jack Colback, James McClean; Stephane Sessegnon; Steven Fletcher
Substitutes: Keiren Westwood, Phil Bardsley, Fraizer Campbell, Connor Wickham, James McFadden, David Vaughan, Titus Bramble
Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini also made changes from his side's previous outing against Reading, choosing to mix up his central midfield with Gareth Barry and debutant Karim Rekik both dropping out in favour of Javi Garcia and James Milner.
It looks for all intents and purposes that City are going to go with three at the back as there doesn't appear to be any 'proper' full backs in there barring Pablo Zabaleta. We'll wait and see how they do start, but it's a formation Mancini is known to favour.
Manchester City (3-5-2): Joe Hart; Matija Nastasic, Vincent Kompany, Kolo Toure; Pablo Zabaleta, James Milner, Javi Garcia, Yaya Toure, David Silva; Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez
Substitutes: Costel Pantillimon, Joleon Lescott, Gareth Barry, Abdul Razak, Scott Sinclair, Karim Rekik, Edin Dzeko
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