Sunderland v Aston Villa: Premier League predictions, previews and team news

Follow Sunderland v Aston Villa live with Mirror.co.uk's Match Tracke r

The New Football Pools Pundits' Predictions:
John Barnes: Draw
Tony Cascarino: Draw
Graham Poll: Draw
Mirror.co.uk Sports Editor Dan Silver: Away win

Sunderland team news
Sunderland will be without midfielder Steed Malbranque through suspension for tomorrow's Barclays Premier League clash with Aston Villa.

The Frenchman picked up his fifth booking of the season at Middlesbrough last weekend, and Dean Whitehead, Teemu Tainio and Phil Bardsley are all on four.

Kieran Richardson should be available after having stitches put into a head wound at Boro, while Bardsley has recovered from a virus, but the game will come too soon for George McCartney (foot) and Craig Gordon (ankle).

Provisional squad: Fulop, Colgan, Bardsley, Chimbonda, Ferdinand, Nosworthy, Collins, Whitehead, Richardson, Tainio, Leadbitter, Edwards, Yorke, Reid, Henderson, Diouf, Cisse, Jones, Murphy, Healy, Chopra.

Aston Villa team news
Aston Villa striker John Carew has returned to training for the first time following a long-term back problem but is unlikely to play any part at Sunderland's Stadium of Light tomorrow.

Carew has been sidelined for the past two months leading to manager Martin O'Neill using Gabriel Agbonlahor as the lone striker in a 4-5-1 formation.

Full-back Wilfred Bouma has also undergone some work at Bodymoor Heath after six months out with a dislocated ankle.

O'Neill has a couple of fresh injury niggles but is keeping them close to his chest as Villa look to extend their unbeaten league run to 10 games.

Team (from): Friedel, Guzan, Reo-Coker, Cuellar, Laursen, Davies, Knight, L Young, Shorey, Milner, Petrov, Barry, Sidwell, A Young, Osbourne, Gardner, Salifou, Agbonlahor, Harewood, Delfouneso.

Opta match facts
Djibril Cisse has scored three goals in four Premier League games against Villa.
Cisse has scored four goals in his last six appearances at the Stadium of Light.
Sunderland have scored exactly one goal in six of the last seven games against Villa, failing to score in the other.
Villa have won four and lost only one of the last six league meetings with Sunderland.
The Black Cats have kept clean sheets in their last two home matches.
Villa have won seven of the last nine away games and the last four in a row.
Sunderland have won 49 home games in the Premier League and are three goals short of 150 on their own turf.
Aston Villa have benefited from own goals in four of their last five league matches.
Villa are the only team who have not dropped any points from winning positions this season.
Kenwyne Jones has scored four goals in his last five league outings.
Sunderland have only won one game against a team in the current top 10 and only point from the teams in the top five of the table.
Referee Mike Dean has shown the most red cards (6) and awarded the most penalties (8).

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