Follow every kick as Sunderland take on Manchester United at Stadium of Light in the Premier League
on 02-May-2010, kick off time 16:00
Sunderland v Manchester United Live
Champions Manchester United will know how vital a win could be at Sunderland on Sunday as they chase a fourth consecutive Premier League crown. Sir Alex Ferguson's men find themselves one point behind leaders Chelsea and with two games to go this term, their stranglehold in England could be coming to an abrupt halt. Their wily old coach goes head-to-head with former player and United star Steve Bruce, who now leads the north east-based outfit and it will be interesting to see his team selection at the weekend. Black Cats top-scorer Darren Bent will be striving to get on the score sheetonce again as he further aims to impress England manager Fabio Capello ahead of the World Cup finals this summer. Following the Red Devils' defeat against Chelsea and goalless draw at Blackburn, they have won back-to-back games against fierce rivals Manchester City and high-flying Tottenham Hotspur last weekend. Sunderland have collected three wins from four with a defeat at West Ham United their only blemish in the month of April. Sunderland midfielder Lee Cattermole (calf) and full-back George McCartney (hamstring) will face late fitness tests ahead of the Stadium of Light meeting, while John Mensah (knee) and Andy Reid (calf) will miss the final two games of the season. United must do without Danny Welbeck (knee), Michael Owen (hamstring) and Anderson (cruciate ligament). Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney (both groin) and Gary Neville (calf) are all doubtful and long-term absentee Owen Hargreaves is unlikely to make a return to the starting line-up, although he could be on the bench again. At Old Trafford earlier this season, United were moments away from crashing to a highly unlikely defeat but an Anton Ferdinand own goal deep into injury-time tied the scores up at 2-2. Visiting striker Bent opened the scoring after just seven minutes but Dimitar Berbatov equalised soon after the interval. However, Bruce's plucky outfit regained the advantage thanks to a header from Bent's towering strike partner Kenwyne Jones. With all three points on their way to Wearside, disaster struck as Patrice Evra's low drive was inadvertently deflected beyond Craig Gordon by the unfortunate Ferdinand at the death to restore parity.
Source: DSG
