Man City v Sunderland

Eastlands
Monday, 5 November
Kick-off: 2000 GMT
Coverage on the BBC Sport website & BBC Radio Five Live

Micah Richards is set to miss out for Manchester City because of a bruised knee but should return the following Sunday at Portsmouth.

Winger Martin Petrov is available again after a toe injury.

Sunderland will be without suspended duo Paul McShane and Greg Halford for Monday night's trip to Eastlands.

Kenwyne Jones has recovered from a calf problem, but fellow forwards Dwight Yorke (calf) and Roy O'Donovan (ankle) are rated at 50-50 for the clash.

Interview: Sunderland manager Roy Keane

Man City: Isaksson, Hart, Corluka, Onuoha, Sun, Dunne, Garrido, Logan, Ball, Ireland, Johnson, Dabo, Hamann, Geovanni, Fernandes, Petrov, Elano, Samaras, Bianchi, Mpenza, Vassell.

Sunderland (from): Gordon, Ward, Kay, Nosworthy, Higginbotham, Collins, Harte, Etuhu, Yorke, Leadbitter, Miller, Wallace, Kavanagh, Jones, Chopra, Murphy, Stokes, Connolly, O'Donovan.

Man City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson:

"We have some good strikers and it would be wrong of me now to say what we need in January.

"Darius (Vassell) scored five goals in training today. It is good they want to stay here and fight.

"He is now injury-free and still has the qualities he showed for England - that pace and technique. Darius is a very useful player for us."

Sunderland boss Roy Keane on the January transfer window:
"We're narrowing it down to a few players we feel would improve the team.

"And we feel we can get them. We could all sit here and pick out players we'd love to have, but realistically you are not going to get certain players.

"And we don't a panic situation where we buy players for the sake of it."

BIG-MATCH FACTS

The Monday match sees Manchester City chasing a seventh straight home win in the Premier League, and Sunderland searching for a first away.

Should City be victorious they would break their club record of successive league wins from the start of a season.

City are vying to beat Sunderland for the fifth time on the bounce in this league, and are defending a 100% home Premier League record against them.

CLUB FORM

MANCHESTER CITY

(all statistics are ahead of this weekend's round of Premier League fixtures)

1. Made their best ever start to a Premier League season, despite equalling their biggest ever loss in this league last time out; never previously had more than 20 points after the first 11 or 12 games.

2. Lost one of the last six in the Premier League; 6-0, away to Chelsea last Saturday.

3. Won seven, drawn one and lost three of 11 league games under Sven-Goran Eriksson.

4. One of only three clubs with one draw in the Premier League. The others are Everton and Reading.

5. One of two clubs holding a 100% home Premier League record (won six of six), and one of seven still unbeaten at home.

6. Picked up 14 more points at Eastlands, than on the road.

7. Already won more league games at home than in the whole of last season; five in 2006-07, and six in this campaign. Also scored as many goals in six games at the City of Manchester Stadium, than managed in 19 last season.

8. Won their last four Premier League fixtures against north-east clubs, and vying to make it a clean sweep of three out of three at home this term, having already beaten Newcastle 3-1, and Middlesbrough 3-1.

9. Not dropped a point at home since losing 0-1 to Manchester United on 5 May.

10. There's an opportunity to pick up points from the next three fixtures after this; away to Portsmouth, home to Reading, and away to Wigan.

SUNDERLAND

(all statistics are ahead of this weekend's round of Premier League fixtures)

1. Picked up two points out of the last 15, and failed to win in nine of the last 10 Premier League outings.

2. Registered just one win in 11 league and cup matches; 2-1, home to Reading on 15 September.

3. Managed just two Premier League victories under Roy Keane.

4. On the longest current sequence of 10 games in the Premier League without a clean sheet; the 1-0 opening day victory, home to Tottenham on 11 August being the most recent.

5. One of four clubs to have kept just one clean sheet in this Premier League season. The others are Bolton, Middlesbrough and Tottenham.

6. Lost all four fixtures so far this season against clubs in the top half of the table.

7. Not managed to pick up maximum points from any of their last 17 Premier League trips across the Pennines to play north-west clubs, since defeating Blackburn 0-3 on Boxing Day 2001.

8. Opened the scoring in only three Premier League matches this season.

9. One of eight clubs still looking for a first away win in the Premier League this season. Gained just three wins from the last 44 Premier League matches on the road and 21 of 120 all told.

10. This match precedes the north-east derby, home to arch rivals Newcastle, next Saturday.

KEY PLAYER NOTES

MANCHESTER CITY

ELANO is Manchester City's leading scorer with five goals, and top Premier League marksman with four.

Javier GARRIDO and Micah RICHARDS are the only remaining players to have been on the field for every minute of every one of Manchester City's Premier League matches this season.

If selected:-

Nedum ONUOHA will be making his 50th Premier League appearance - all for Manchester City.

SUNDERLAND

Kenwyne JONES is Sunderland's top scorer with four Premier League goals.

Michael CHOPRA is a hat trick shy of 50 career league goals (Newcastle, Watford, Barnsley, Cardiff and Sunderland).

Last season's top scorer David CONNOLLY needs one goal to total 100 in his league career (Watford, Wolves, Wimbledon, West Ham, Leicester, Wigan and Sunderland).

Goalkeeper Craig GORDON is the only remaining player to have been on the field for every minute of every one of Sunderland's Premier League matches this season.

If selected:-

Andrew COLE will be facing a former club. The 36 year old England international made 23 appearances (22 in the league) and scored 10 goals (nine league) for Manchester City during the 2005-06 season.

Dickson ETUHU will also be facing former club mates. The 25 year old midfielder made 13 appearances (12 in the league) in one and a half seasons with Manchester City before a move to Preston in January 2002.

If on the field from the outset:-

GORDON will be making his 150th start in English and Scottish league football.

Suspended:-

Greg HALFORD (two matches)

HEAD TO HEAD

Sunderland are chasing a first top-flight victory on Manchester City turf since an odd goal in five triumph on 19 December 1981.

City have won all three home Premier League fixtures against Sunderland, with an aggregate of 9-3.

Home and away
League (inc PL): Man City 50 wins, Sunderland 43, Draws 19
Prem: Man City 5 wins, Sunderland 1, Draws 0

at Man City only
League (inc PL): Man City 35 wins, Sunderland 12, Draws 9
Prem: Man City 3 wins, Sunderland 0, Draws 0

REFEREE

Alan Wiley (Burntwood, Staffordshire)

Source: BBC Sport