Guardiola given injury boost as defenders recover from injury
Sunderland vs Manchester City
Competition: F.A. Premier League
Date: 4.00pm, Sunday 5th March 2017
Venue: Stadium of Light, Sunderland
Referee: Martin Atkinson Assistants: S Child, A Holmes Fourth Official: P Tierney
Odds: Sunderland 10/1, Draw 5/1, City 2/7
Tickets: Sold out
TV: Sky Sports
Sunderland
Manager: David Moyes
Squad (from): Pickford, Mannone, Jones, O'Shea, Kone, Kirchoff, Larsson, Rodwell, Khazri, Borini, Defoe, Djilobodji, Love, Januzaj, Pienaar, Rodwell, Manquillo, Ndong, Lescott, Gibson
Injured: Anichebe, Watmore, McNair, Cattermole
Doubtful: Jones, Mannone, Pienaar, Rodwell, Kirchoff
Suspended: None
Form guide: LLDWLL
Manchester City
Manager: Pep Guardiola
Squad (from): Bravo, Caballero, Gunn, Adarabioyo, Clichy, Kolarov, Kompany, Otamendi, Sagna, Stones, Zabaleta, De Bruyne, Delph, Fernandinho, Fernando, Garcia, Navas, Nolito, Sane, Silva, Sterling, Toure, Aguero, Iheanacho
Injured: Jesus, Gundogan
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Form guide: WWWDWW
Vincent Kompany and Aleksandar Kolarov are both available again after injury, giving Pep Guardiola a virtually fully fit squad to choose from. Ilkay Gundogan (knee) and Gabriel Jesus (foot) are the only absentees for the trip to the Stadium of Light.
“Kolarov is fit, yeah," Guardiola confirmed at today's press conference.
“I think it must not be easy for Vincent. I understand completely because what happened in the training session was nothing, it was not serious like before.
“It is the last process. Yesterday he trained with us, so he is ready to come back. Since the previous injury it was a month or a month and a half being fit.
“Of course, he didn’t play because of my decision - but he was fit. Hopefully that happens in the last two, three months of the season.”
City's last away game at Sunderland ended in a 1-0 victory, with Sergio Aguero on the scoresheet for City. Overall City have won 69 of the 145 games played against Sunderland, with 26 draws and 50 defeats.
Predicted line-up: Caballero, Sagna, Stones, Kolarov, Clichy, Toure, Silva, De Bruyne, Sterling, Sane, Aguero
Score prediction: Sunderland 1 City 2