Sunderland Match Preview

At the start of the 2025/26 campaign, I’m guessing that very few West Ham United and Sunderland supporters would have predicted the contrast in the form that their respective teams are currently showing.

The two meet again in today’s early kick-off and the Hammers will be keen to make up for the 3-0 reverse on the opening day whilst they also have a great chance to close the gap between them and Nottingham Forest to just two points.

The home side will want to build on their 2-1 away win over fierce rivals Tottenham Hotspur last weekend and confidence must surely be high amongst Nuno Espírito Santo’s squad after their success. He will hope that the home side can pick up another three points here.

Ironically, the last league home success for the Irons came back on 8 November against fellow promoted club Burnley and although the team managed by Frenchman Régis Le Bris still have an unbeaten home record, they are rather indifferent on the road.

Facing a Premier League newcomer has often been fruitful for the Hammers in the past. However, this season, it has not come without its problems. Having lost to both the Black Cats and Leeds United. With that in mind, it will be fascinating to see what the final outcome is here.

Just like the Irons, today’s visitors go into the contest off the back of a 2-1 home win over Crystal Palace. Neither team has an advantage in terms of preparation either, as they have both had the same amount of time to prepare in between games.

As I’ve said before when writing previous match previews, Espírito Santo doesn’t tend to give too much away to the assembled media in terms of which players are available for a particular match but he did reveal in this week’s pre-match news conference on Thursday that Lucas Paquetá would not be involved in this game, as he continues to recover from a back injury.

The Head-Coach also stated that Venezuelan winger Keiber Lamadrid is not ready to make his debut after being signed on an initial loan deal for the rest of the season on Thursday. The deal includes an option to make the move permanent in the summer.

Callum Wilson made the desired impact in North London a week ago and he will be hoping to retain his place, but Espírito Santo is more likely to stick with Valentín Castellanos in the striker’s role and possibly partner him with Pablo Felipe.

Another boost for Espírito Santo is the return of Senegalese defender El Hadji Malick Diouf, as he could go straight back into the team after his winning return from the Africa Cup of Nations.

Max Kilman, Freddie Potts and Soungoutou Magassa are also in contention.

The match is a 12:30pm kick-off and live match coverage is available on TNT Sports1 from 11am, while post-match reaction will then be available on TNT Sports3 from 2:30pm. The referee is Thomas Bramall.