Sunderland and Hull City square off on Friday night with both teams looking to move back into the Championship playoff spots.
The seventh and ninth-placed teams in the standings are currently separated by just the one point ahead of the fixture at the Stadium of Light.
Match preview
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Michael Beale is now six matches into his reign at the Black Cats and it is fair to say that it has been something of a mixed bag for the former Rangers boss.
A seven-point haul from contests against Hull, Rotherham United and Preston North End came at the right time and kept the club in contention for the top six.
However, 3-0 home defeats to Coventry City and Newcastle United exposed their frailties, while Sunderland let slip a lead at Ipswich Town last weekend to lose 2-1 at Portman Road.
Still sitting in seventh, Beale can be encouraged that Sunderland are well placed in the table, yet there is now a five-point gap between themselves and West Bromwich Albion in fifth position.
Sunderland have won eight of their 13 Championship encounters at the Stadium of Light in 2023-24, although there have also been five defeats, something which will only give encouragement to their opponents.
For the first time in his stint at the MKM Stadium, Liam Rosenior has hit a rough patch, with Hull having allowed a wide array of teams to come into the promotion picture.
From a position of strength in the playoffs, Hull have lost four of their last five games, dropping down to ninth, while seven losses have also come in 11 fixtures in all competitions.
The most recent of those came on Tuesday evening as Birmingham City came from behind to record a late 2-1 triumph over the Tigers in their FA Cup third round replay.
A victory on Friday could help instigate a turnaround for Hull and Rosenior, yet holding just a three-point gap over 14th-placed Bristol City highlights the smaller margins for error that they have given themselves.
Team News
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While Beale opted for an unfamiliar 4-4-2 with Jobe Bellingham as a central forward last time out, he will likely tinker with Sunderland's tactics here.
Nazarii Rusyn could come back into the attack as a replacement for Abdoullah Ba in what may prove to be the only alteration.
The likes of Patrick Roberts and Bradley Dack are still at least two weeks away from making their return from injury.
Rosenior rung the changes for the clash with Birmingham and is likely to revert back to a similar team that started versus Norwich in their most recent league game.
However, two alterations are expected from that contest, a result of Scott Twine making the switch to Bristol City and Aaron Connolly likely to miss out due to serving concussion protocols.
Jason Lokilo should feature on the left flank, while Billy Sharp could remain down the middle of the attack with Liam Delap having been ruled out until the spring with a knee injury.
Sunderland possible starting lineup:
Patterson; Hume, O'Nien, Ballard, Alese; Ekwah, Neil; Pritchard, Bellingham, Clarke, Rusyn
Hull City possible starting lineup:
Allsop; Coyle, Jones, Greaves, Jacob; Morton, Slater; Tufan, Carvalho, Lokilo; Sharp
We say: Sunderland 1-1 Hull City
After Sunderland edged the reverse fixture not so long ago, Hull will be motivated to get revenge. However, while we do not feel that they will do enough to earn maximum points, the Tigers need to bounce back somewhere and a point would be viewed as a good result.
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