Sunday’s early afternoon kick-off in the Premier League sees Newcastle United face fierce rivals Sunderland at St. James’ Park.

Having recently pieced together six wins in a row in all competitions, Alan Pardew’s men have taken just four points from the last twelve available in the league and go in to the game on the back of Wednesday evening’s 4-0 defeat to Tottenham in the quarter finals of the Capital One Cup.

Victory here will see them move on to twenty-six points, and keep pressure on the sides above them chasing a European place.

Jak Alnwick is set to continue in goal for the hosts despite injuring his shoulder at White Hart Lane, while Papiss Cisse, Steven Taylor, Moussa Sissoko and Check Tiote are should all be fit enough to be in contention and Daryl Janmaat returns from suspension.

Cisse, who has three goals in his last three games, is favourite to open the scoring here at 5.5 (9/2) with Bet Victor, with Ayoze Perez a 7.0 (6/1) chance with the same firm.

The home win is widely available at 2.1 (11/10) with the away victory as highly priced as the 4.0 (3/1) on offer from a variety of bookmakers. The draw is a 3.5 (5/2) chance with Betfred.

Gus Poyet’s side have won just one of their last nine games, though last weekend’s draw against West Ham United was their fourth in five matches and tenth of the season so far.

Steven Fletcher is available and expected to replace Jozy Altidore upfront while Emanuele Giaccherini and Billy Jones could also be available after returning to fitness.

Fletcher is 9.0 (8/1) to get the first goal of the game with a number of firms with Adam Johnson a 15.0 (14/1) chance with Bet Victor.

Sunderland are unbeaten in their last five meetings with Newcastle, winning the last three with both of the last two clashes on Tyneside ending in 3-0 wins for the Black Cats.

However, with the visitors the division’s draw specialists, you may prefer to back the 1-1 scoreline, which can be found at 7.5 (13/2) with Bet Victor.