Sunderland are hoping to build on the impressive showing in the 3-3 draw with Manchester City, whereas Tottenham are desperate to try and end the five-match winless run on the travels.

The Black Cats largely impressed at the start of Martin O’Neill’s reign and quickly climbed to the top half of the standings, but have since seen a small dip in form.

Away defeat to Blackburn and FA Cup exit at the hands of Everton seemed to have stopped team’s momentum, but Sunderland didn’t need a lot of time to prove they are slowly becoming genuine top table side.

Martin O’Neill’s men played a great game at Etihad Stadium and looked to be heading towards a valuable victory, although two late goals from Manchester City prevented the visitors from claiming maximum points.

Sunderland can, nonetheless, take heart from that performance and after scoring three goals against City they can be trusted to score at least two against Tottenham, at odds of 2.70 (17/10) offered by Sportingbet.

John O’Shea and Titus Bramble continue to miss out, but Wes Brown has recovered from a knee injury and should be in contention.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-1-1): Mignolet – Gardner, Kyrgiakos, Turner, Bardsley – Larsson, Colback, Cattermole, McClean – Sessegnon – Bendtner.

Tottenham may have been absolutely brilliant in the first part of the season, but their latest run of results threatened to turn their Premier League campaign into utter disappointment.

The four-match winless run in the league saw Spurs slip to fourth place in the standings, but they managed to hold Chelsea to a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge, and thus remained five points clear of their rivals for the final Champions League berth.

The 3-1 win over high-flying Swansea proved that Tottenham are slowly rediscovering their form, which is why odds of 2.30 (13/10) offered by 888sport on away win could be worth a shot.

The only problem is that Spurs are winless in last five away games in all competitions, but the poor run on the travels will have to end sooner or later.

William Gallas returned into action after recovering from injury and with both Ledley King and Michael Dawson out injured the Frenchman should keep his place in the side.

Tom Huddlestone remains sidelined with an ankle problem, but Aaron Lennon could return to the starting line-up.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-1-1): Friedel – Walker, Kaboul, Gallas, Assou-Ekotto – Lennon, Modric, Parker, Bale – Van der Vaart – Adebayor.