Coventry vs Sunderland Preview: Team News & Prediction

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A rivalry that began as a result of Jimmy Hill and was reignited in the EFL in the last half a decade or so, Coventry City now come up against Sunderland in the Premier League.

Kick-off date/time: 31 October 2026 at 3:00 pm

How to watch on TV & online: UK – Not televised & cannot be streamed / USA – NBC & Peacock

Coventry preview: Couple of defeats

Frank Lampard’s Coventry City began the season with four successive defeats in which they failed to score but The Sky Blues enjoyed victories against Nottingham Forest and then Newcastle United either side of the extended international break.

After their hammering of Newcastle, Coventry then succumbed to a hard-fought 3-1 loss against then winless Tottenham Hotspur before another hard-fought defeat last weekend as they were edged out by a goal to nil at home by Fulham.

Sunderland preview: Big win in midweek

The pressure had, perhaps bizarrely, began to grow on Regis Le Bris but there has been an improvement from Sunderland in the last week with Le Bris talking up the competence of their goalless draw with Leeds United last week.

After that, The Black Cats earned a much-needed victory against Brentford in the fourth round of the EFL Cup in midweek, defeating The Bees by three goals to two at the Stadium of Light after going 3-0 up in the first half of that one.

Coventry team news: Thomas a doubt

Bobby Thomas has been excellent for Coventry this season but he was forced off against Fulham and is now a major doubt for this weekend’s visit of Sunderland.

As well as Thomas, summer signing Aurele Amenda is another defensive absentee alongside the experienced Luke Woolfenden and so Stephen Mfuni may well come back into the side here.

Further details will appear here following pre-match press conferences…

Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Rushworth; Van Ewijk, Pinnock, Mfuni, Dasilva; Yirenkyi, Grimes; Sakamoto, Rudoni, Thomas-Asante; Cherif

Unavailable: Woolfenden (Injured), Amenda (Injured), Eccles (Injured), Wright (Injured)

Questionable: Thomas (Injured)

Sunderland team news: Returning players

After Brian Brobbey returned to action last week, fellow striker Wilson Isidor is pushing to be back available, too, albeit the Haiti international did miss the midweek clash with Brentford.

Isidor was tracking well alongside Thomas Meunier and the Belgium international did return in midweek, while Nordi Mukiele is now a doubt for the visitors, too.

Further details will appear here following pre-match press conferences…

Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Roefs; Hume, O’Nien, Alderete, Reinildo; Sadiki, Xhaka; N. Angulo, Rigg, Le Fee; Brobbey

Unavailable: Ballard (Injured), Mundle (Injured)

Questionable: Mukiele (Injured), Isidor (Fitness)

Key stats

• This is the first Premier League meeting between Coventry and Sunderland since 16 April 2001, when Coventry won 1-0 at home. 
• The sides have met six times in the Premier League since 1992/93, all between 1996 and 2001, with two wins each and two draws. 
• Coventry are unbeaten in three home Premier League games against Sunderland (W2 D1), while both of Sunderland's wins in the fixture came 1-0 at home. 
• Coventry are back in the Premier League for the first time since 2000/01 and are 19th coming into Matchweek 9 with six points (W2 L6). 
• Coventry, Man City and Arsenal are the only sides yet to draw a Premier League game this season. 
• Coventry have failed to score in three of their four home league games this season (W1 L3), their only home win being 4-1 against Newcastle. 
• Sunderland are bottom coming into Matchweek 9 with five points, having finished seventh last season, when they had 14 points after eight games. 
• Sunderland's five points is their lowest tally after eight games of a Premier League season since 2016/17 (two). 
• Sunderland are winless in six league games (D2 L4) since beating Fulham 1-0 on 30 August, and have failed to score in their last three. 
• Sunderland have not won away in the league this season (D1 L3); their last away win was 3-1 at Everton on 17 May 2026. 
• Simon Hooper has never refereed Coventry or Sunderland in his 141 Premier League games, and this is his first Premier League game of 2026/27 – his last was on 10 February 2026. 
• Hooper's 141 Premier League games since 2015/16 have averaged 2.99 goals, above the league average of 2.70 since 1992/93, with home sides winning 45.4%. 

'Key stats' are Premier League only (not all competitions)

Coventry vs Sunderland prediction

Ahead of the ninth match day of the 2026-27 Premier League campaign, Coventry and Sunderland begin the weekend sitting second-bottom and rock-bottom in the table. They are the joint lowest scorers in the division alongside Nottingham Forest and there is a fair bit of pressure on both whereby the fear of losing may be greater than the prospect of winning and so backing a low-scoring contest seems a decent bet for this one at the Coventry Building Society Arena.

Coventry vs Sunderland tip: Under 2.5 goals