Sunderland vs Newcastle live: Tyne-Wear rivalry renews in Premier League clash at Stadium of Light

Sunderland XI: Roefs: Mukiele, Ballard, Alderete; Reinido, Xhaka, Sadiki, Le Fee; Traore, Talbi, Brobbey

The line-ups should be released in the next five minutes, so here’s a reminder of the early team news for both sides…

Sunderland’s Habib Diarra will miss out however as he continues his recovery from groin surgery, with Aji Alese, who has a shoulder injury, and the suspended Luke O’Nien joining him on the sidelines. Reinildo has a minor groin injury but may be fit in time.

Newcastle are sweating on the fitness of Emil Kraft, Sven Botman and Will Osula while Kieran Trippier and Nick Pope are also confirmed absentees.

Eddie Howe explained that Newcastle’s preparation for today’s match began as soon as the Champions League clash with Bayer Leverkusen was done.

Howe said: “My first communication to the players on the derby was (after the Bayer Leverkusen game). We can’t take our focus away from our next game so the build-up to this game was all about this game and it has to be.

“As soon as the game ends and we focus on the next one, we knew the importance of this game. I had to make that clear to all of the players.

“There will be some new players who maybe don’t understand it as well as others so we’ll use whatever methods we can in the next few days to make sure that everyone enters the pitch fully aware of the importance.”

Sunderland are unbeaten in seven matches at the Stadium of Light and Regis Le Bris is expecting a loud atmosphere for today’s derby.

“I think we’ve had good experiences at the Stadium of Light this season,” he explained.

“It has been loud and I expect it to be louder against Newcastle.

“So far, the players have used this energy really well. To ride the momentum, the change the dynamic when needed. I hope this will be the case once again.

“This extra energy can help the project so when we are connected, we have this advantage at the Stadium of Light.”

The Sunderland boss said: “I think we will have two different positions. We will have our fans and the people around the club. Then we have our players and the club.

“For the fans, we know the game is really big. For us, the game is really important as well but we are professional.

“We won’t say we are preparing this fixture like another one but with a good commitment, concentration, the right level of energy. We know that it will be an intense game but the main focus is to find the best version of Sunderland for that fixture.”

The Magpies edged on to 10 points in this season’s competition and into 12th place in the table after a 2-2 draw at Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday evening, a game in which they led 2-1 with just two minutes of normal time remaining.

Despite the disappointment of conceding a late equaliser, head coach Howe is confident they can progress to the knockout stage despite facing tough tests against PSV Eindhoven at St James’ Park and holders Paris St-Germain away in their final two league stage games.

Sunderland midfielder Habib Diarra hasn’t played since September’s match against Crystal Palace due to a groin injury but is expected to rejoin full training next week.

“Habib will train with the group next week and be in full training,” confirmed manager Regis Le Bris.

“He will need probably one or two weeks to be at his best after a good rehab programme and after that it depends on AFCON.

“We need to build his fitness level and after that, he will be ready.”

Sunderland manager Regis Le Bris is boosted by the returns of Reinildo and Dennis Cirkin.

Le Bris confirmed that Reinildo has returned to full training and is available for selection today while Cirkin could also feature.

“Dennis is ready – he has trained properly now for two or three weeks and he’s connected in the group,” he said.

“It’s good news because right now we don’t have many injuries.”

Newcastle United must pick themselves up after conceding a late goal during the midweek Champions League clash with Bayer Leverkusen which ended in a 2-2 draw.

“Goals happen in games and we haven’t defended well enough,” said Eddie Howe after the match.

“It was too easy for them to go through the middle of our defence [for the second goal]. I wasn’t happy at half-time, not so much with the performance but there was a real lack of belief that we could score.

“You have to make things happen and really believe internally. Off the ball, we were getting close to them but not in that final yard.

“It leaves us in a good position [to qualify in the top eight]. All we can do is focus back onto the Premier League where we are in a decent vein of form.”

Sunderland XI: Roefs; Hume, Mukiele, Ballard, Geertruida, Reinildo; Xhaka, Sadiki; Traore, Isidor, Le Fee

Newcastle XI: Ramsdale, Livramento, Thiaw, Schar, Hall, Tonali, Guimaraes, Joelinton, Barnes, Woltemade, Gordon