• Sunderland v Watford
• Sky Bet Championship
• Stadium of Light
• Saturday April 29, 3pm KO
• Blue away kit

• Referee: Gavin Ward
• Assistant Referees: Mark Dwyer and Adam Crysell
• Fourth Official: Thomas Parsons

Sunderland will expect more than 40,000 supporters at the Stadium of Light as they welcome the Hornets. The Black Cats are involved in a closely-fought race for a play-off place, currently ranked sixth in the second-tier and level on points with Millwall and Blackburn directly below them.

Coming into the match off the back of an important 2-1 victory over West Bromwich Albion (Sunday April 23), and having not lost a game since mid-March, Tony Mowbray’s men will be aiming to secure three points and boost their hopes of securing back-to-back promotions.

• This is Sunderland’s first home league game against Watford since the 2016/17 Premier League campaign.

• Watford are unbeaten in their last two league meetings with Sunderland (W1 D1). They last had a longer such run between March 1992 and September 1993 (4).

• Hornets Head Coach Chris Wilder has won all three previous league meetings with Sunderland; only against Swindon does he have a better 100 per cent win rate against a side in the Football League.

For a full statistical breakdown, check out Stats Buzz: Sunderland In Numbers.

In his pre-match press conference, Watford boss Chris Wilder hinted that Academy stars such as Jack Grieves and Adrian Blake could add to their senior minutes before the end of the season, but that wholesale changes shouldn’t be expected. Samuel Kalu (hamstring) is back training at a low level, while Francisco Sierralta (foot) stepped up his road to recovery with some minutes for the Under-21s at the start of the week.

For Sunderland, manager Tony Mowbray stated in his pre-match press conference that there have been no changes to the injury list among his squad, with no further injuries or returns. Dan Ballard is set to miss the contest, while Danny Batth has recently joined Ross Stewart in being ruled out for the rest of the season.

Chris Wilder, Watford Head Coach:

“We need a bit more from the players. I think most people who watched us last weekend would have said we deserved something from the game, but to turn those losses around you’ve got to step out of that comfort zone a bit more, and take your levels a bit higher.

“I said to the players three or four weeks ago that I’m going right to the end of this season. We’re going to do that - we still have lots to play for even though we maybe should have more to play for - and the players have the ability to really affect what people think of them, and to get the results we all want.

“Sunderland are obviously in the thick of the play-offs race. It’s a huge club with huge support, so it’ll be a big test. We’ve got an obligation to put out a strong team and push them as hard as we can, and go and get a win for ourselves first and foremost.”

Tony Mowbray, Sunderland Head Coach:

“I don’t think we sit here and think about stuff like that [play-offs]. We just have to play the games and finish the season.

“We are just preparing to play Watford - a really dangerous Watford team I would suggest, with the quality of players at the top end of the pitch they’ve got.

“They have lots and lots of really good attacking players, with the likes of Ismaïla Sarr and Keinan Davis. If they bring their best game they can give anybody in this division problems, so we have to be very mindful of that.”

Overall:

Won: 11
Drawn: 15
Lost: 18

Last Six:

September 2022: Watford 2-2 Sunderland (Championship)
April 2017: Watford 1-0 Sunderland (Premier League)
December 2016: Sunderland 1-0 Watford (Premier League)
May 2016: Watford 2-2 Sunderland (Premier League)
December 2015: Sunderland 0-1 Watford (Premier League)
February 2005: Sunderland 4-2 Watford (Championship)

Watford’s most recent victory against Sunderland came back in April 2017, when Miguel Britos’ lone goal secured the Hornets’ first league win over the Black Cats since 1999.