Man City vs. Sunderland Preview: Cats To Tear Up Form Book?

Sunderland team news

Liam Bridcutt and Seb Larsson are both struggling with injury after picking up knocks against Aston Villa, with the latter better positioned to make a recovery in time. Jack Rodwell could feature, with Gus Poyet strongly hinting he will be given the chance to play against his former club.

Anthony Reveillere and Patrick van Aanholt are very close to returning, but neither are available at the Etihad.

Manchester City team news

Skipper Vincent Kompany misses out through injury and midfielder Fernandinho is suspended, but Yaya Toure claims he is available again after being rested against Burnley.

Predicted line up

Key match-up: Lee Cattermole vs. Yaya Toure

Cattermole is a player that Toure has described as one of his toughest opponents before, and he's generally done quite well against the Ivorian. Of course, stop Toure and they still have plenty other ways to hurt you, but that one should be fun to watch anyway.

Recent form: WWWWD

Win: Roma 0-2 Man City (Nasri Zabaleta)

Win: Leicester 0-1 Man City (Lampard)

Win: Man City 3-0 Crystal Palace (Silva 2, Toure)

Win: WBA 1-3 Man City (Fernando, Silva, Toure)

Draw: Man City 2-2 Burnley (Fernandinho, Silva)

Last time around: Man City 2-2 Sunderland (16/4/2014)

Arguably the result that saved both teams' season, only a late Vito Mannone clanger denied Sunderland a remarkable three points after a Connor Wickham brace had given them a late lead.

The ref: Chris Foy

He isn't immediately offensive like the likes of Andre Marriner or Kevin Friend, but there is always time to change all that! He has officiated Sunderland just once before this season so far, the 0-0 (shock, horror, astonishment!) with Swansea City back in September.

What the managers said

Gus Poyet

They were on fire and they were winning every single game, confidence was high, so everything was all right.

Now they have drawn and it's a little bit of a wake-up call, so I don't know, we will see.

We know Manchester City, we know how good they are, we know the quality they have got. We need to make sure that we are good on the day.

Manuel Pellegrini

Last year it was one of the postponed games and then when we played it was in a difficult moment, we just drew.

It is a good team with a good manager, Gustavo Poyet. They know exactly the way they want to play, they have strong players in aerial duels so they are a difficult team.

Roker Report predicts

New year, new optimism? Nah, sod all that crap. Might get a point again but probably won't, despite generally going quite well under Poyet against the better sides. City to win, but not run away with it. 2-0.