Preview: Wembley Semi-Final At Stake For Cats & Tigers

Sunderland Team News

Only Keiren Westwood will be missing for the visit to Hull City, with the goalkeeper still out after undergoing shoulder surgery.

Liam Bridcutt will return to the squad after missing the Capital One Cup final due to being cup-tied.

Gus Poyet may continue his habit of shuffling his pack for the FA Cup and that will mean the likes of Oscar Ustari, Nacho Scocco, Emanuele Giaccherini, Santiago Vergini, Steven Fletcher, Jozy Altidore and Craig Gardner will all hope to start, although with a Wembley trip at stake it's unlikely there will be wholesale changes.

Hull City Team News

Paul McShane is a long term injury concern for Hull, with ankle ligament damage, and the central defender is joined on the sidelines by Irish winger Robbie Brady who will miss out due to a groin strain.

Nikica Jelavic and Shane Long are both cup-tied for the Tigers and their places are likely to go to Sone Aluko and Yannick Sagbo.

Hull City have used the 3-5-2 formation in their last two games, in the FA Cup fifth round reply win over Brighton and the controversial 4-1 home defeat to Newcastle and may stick with it for Sunday's game.

Predicted Line-ups

Sunderland (4-1-4-1): Ustari; Bardsley, O'Shea, Brown, Alonso; Cattermole; Johnson, Gardner, Colback, Borini; Scocco.

Hull City (3-5-2): Harper; Bruce, Davies, Figueroa; Elmohamady, Livermore, Huddlestone, Meyler, Rosenior; Aluko, Sagbo.

Key Match-up: Lee Cattermole Vs Tom Huddlestone

Lee Cattermole was absolutely superb in the Capital One Cup final defeat against Manchester City and he will be up against a similarly in-form player in the shape of Hull's Tom Huddlestone.

Sunderland's hopes of progressing to the semi-final could hinge on Cattermole stopping Huddlestone from dictating play for Hull and if he can do that, our hopes of another Wembley visit will be that much easier.

Recent Form: WLDWWL

Win: Sunderland 0-2 Hull City

Loss: Hull City 0-1 Southampton

Draw: Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 Hull City

Win: Cardiff City 0-4 Hull City

Win: Hull City 2-1 Brighton & Hove Albion

Loss: Hull City 1-4 Newcastle United

Last Time Around: Hull City 1-0 Sunderland, 2/11/2013

Sunderland had two men sent off in the first half against Hull, with Lee Cattermole being somewhat harshly red carded and Andrea Dossena losing his head and being deservedly sent off for a dangerous tackle on David Meyler.

Sunderland's recent self-destruction against Hull continued with Carlos Cuellar scoring the own goal that clinched victory for Steve Bruce's side, although the nine-man away side could have pinched a point but for Steve Harper's fine save from Adam Johnson in the second half.

The Ref: Craig Pawson

34-year-old Pawson has only ever taken charge of one Sunderland game, the 4-0 defeat in Gus Poyet's first game in charge and in truth had very little to do as Swansea strolled to victory in the second half.

He has shown three red cards and awarded five penalties this season, all of the red cards and all but one of the spot-kicks have came in the eight Championship games he has refereed. He has been much more lenient in the Premier League and FA Cup.

What The Managers Said

Gus Poyet

The players did fantastically well to get to the Capital One Cup final at Wembley.

And we mustn't forget that we are still in the FA Cup, too.

We play at Hull this weekend, and a win there will see us back at Wembley once again.

I'm told that no manager has taken Sunderland to Wembley twice in a season, so to have a chance to do that would be very special.

Steve Bruce

Of course, the Premier League, we all want to play in it and be part of it, but there is nothing quite like the FA Cup too.

If you can get to the semi-final stage then believe me it's something that you look back on your career and think of as a good or a really special occasion, and if you have the fortune to win it then it stays with you a long, long time.

We have got a wonderful chance but then again there is eight teams left in it and everybody's got a chance and as we have seen last year in the competition, my old club Wigan won the thing which I think everybody got a delight.

Roker Report Predicts

Sunderland's cup and away from has mainly been excellent in the last few months and the team will want to get back to Wembley to make up for the Capital One Cup final disappointment. Jelavic and Long being out for Hull could prove crucial, with very few goals in the home side without the duo.

For those reasons we predict a 2-1 away win and pubs, clubs, supermarkets and off-licences in London stocking up on alcohol before the Sunderland hordes once again travel down to London.