This evening, Leeds travel to the Stadium of Light to face Sunderland. The Whites will be looking to carry on from where they left off in their last away game, that satisfying 3–2 win at Bolton.

Both teams come into the game on good form and with a similar start to the season. Three points for either side would be a big plus going forward.

I think a team like Sunderland will be a good indicator for how the lads are going as the Black Cats have coped well with a difficult start which has included Derby, Norwich and Sheffield Wednesday.

Sunderland are another quality side in the Championship, and I believe we may see the sort of game we saw on Tuesday night.

What we know about Sunderland

Sunderland have started better than most expected. The despair of relegation and no real money to spend meant Simon Grayson had to be smart with his moves in the transfer window.

The signings of the experienced James Vaughan and Lewis Grabban have added some steel teams need to be competitive in the division.

Also, the bargain of the window was the signing of Aiden McGeady from Everton for £252,000. The former SPL winner is a beast going forward and Leeds will need to deal with him if we are to leave the Stadium of Light with anything.

I expect to see Grayson attacking and pressing the game in the early stages, Grayson likes to play the ball out wide and with a direct approach; I would expect to see a lot of balls whipped into Vaughan and Grabban.

Key Battle

The key battle will be upfront for the Whites: the lack of goals in the last few games is starting be a worry. Leeds will be without Chris Wood as he starts to complete his move to Burnley, but whoever starts upfront will need to find their scoring boots in the game as early as possible. Sunderland have conceded in every game so far, and as we know Grayson plays an attacking style of football so the attackers will get chances, they just need to take them.

Injury news

Gaetano Berardi and Matthew Pennington are unlikely to return as they look to recover from injuries they picked up against Bolton on the opening day.

Liam Cooper should be fit and therefore will mostly likely replace Conor Shaughnessy and start alongside Pontus Jansson.

Head-to-Head

The last time the teams met was in the FA Cup in January 2015. The Black Cats were victorious that day after a Van Aanholt goal settled the game.

In the last 5 meetings, Leeds have won 1 game with Sunderland picking up 4 wins. However, prior to the FA Cup fixture, Leeds and Sunderland have not faced each other since December 2006.

Form

Both teams have had a near identical start to the season: 1 win and 2 draws and they currently reside next to each other in the league table.

WHAT

Leeds United at Sunderland AFC

EFL Championship Fixture

WHERE

Stadium of Light, Sunderland

LUTV, BBC Radio Leeds, Sky Sports Football, ESPN3, International Listings

WHEN

Saturday, August 19th, 2017

5:30pm BST

WHO

Leeds United’s predicted starting XI

Weidwald, Borthwick-Jackson, Jansson, Cooper, Ayling, O’Kane, Phillips, Saiz, Hernandez, Alioski, Ekuban (damn it all)

Sunderland’s predicted starting XI

Steele, Jones, Browning, Koné, Galloway, Honeyman, Ndong,Gibson, McGeady, Vaughan, Grabban

PREDICTION

I expect a scrappy game if I am honest, and I think both teams will look to take control of the game in midfield which will hinder the flow of the game. However, I fancy Leeds to have the creative edge over Sunderland and therefore we will win the game, 2–0 Leeds.