Stoke City v Sunderland: Confirmed Line-ups

Adam Johnson was NOT in the Sunderland squad to face Stoke City. The winger was charged by police over sex offences with a minor on Thursday, but was not suspended by the club. However, he has not made the trip.

There were recalls for Will Buckley and Sebastian Coates, though, who came in for the injured Steven Fletcher and the dropped Santiago Vergini.

Sunderland (4-3-3): Costel Pantilimon; John O'Shea, Sebastian Coates, Billy Jones, Patrick van Aanholt; Lee Cattermole, Jack Rodwell, Jordi Gomez; Connor Wickham, Will Buckley, Jermain Defoe.

Subs: Liam Bridcutt, Anthony Reveillere, Vito Mannone, Santiago Vergini, Danny Graham, George Honeyman, Liam Agnew.

There was no place in the Stoke side for Phil Bardsley, who has been out recently with injury. American Geoff Cameron starts instead.

Stoke (4-2-3-1): Amir Begovic; Geoff Cameron, Ryan Shawcross, Philipp Wollscheid, Erik Pieters, Steven N'Zonzi, Charlie Adam; Jon Walters, Stephen Ireland, Marko Arnautovic, Mame Biram Diouf.

Subs: Jack Butland, Phil Bardsley, Glenn Whelan, Peter Odemwingie, Marc Wilson, Steven Sidwell, Peter Crouch.