Newly-promoted Premier League outfit Sunderland will complete their pre-season preparations by welcoming La Liga side Rayo Vallecano to the Stadium of Light on Sunday.
The Black Cats are looking ahead to a first season back in the top flight for almost a decade, while Vallecano will play European football this season for just the second time in their history.
Match preview
A big season is on the horizon for Sunderland, and the owners have put their money where their mouth is, spending big on improving the squad in hopes of being competitive at this level.
The last two Premier League seasons have seen all three promoted sides go straight back down, so Regis Le Bris will seek to end that barren run for clubs coming up from the Championship, and the board certainly believe he is the man to do so, by offering him a new bumper contract in the last week.
With so many new faces through the door, Sunderland have used preseason to get plenty of match practice in and to build familiarity within their squad.
After beating South Shields and drawing with Sevilla though, results have not been overly encouraging, even though scorelines during preseason should always be taken with a pinch of salt.
Sunderland will enter the weekend on the back of four straight defeats against Sporting Lisbon, Hearts, Hull City and Real Betis, with Augsburg coming up a day before this fixture on Saturday.
Vallecano should provide one of the toughest tests to the Mackems, given that they are coming off the back of one of their finest seasons ever in the top flight, defying the odds to finish eighth in La Liga with an extremely modest budget.
Rayo Vallecano manager Inigo Perez on August 27, 2024
Inigo Perez was the man who masterminded that league finish, as his side kept their cool in the latter stages of the season to hold onto a top-eight spot, and in doing so, earning their first European qualification since the 2000-01 campaign.
Since returning to action this summer, results have been mixed for the Madrid club, drawing with Genk to begin preseason, before thrashing Dutch side Zwolle 5-0.
However, they followed up that commanding win with a surprising but thrilling 3-2 defeat to West Bromwich Albion, where all five goals came in the final 20 minutes.
This is also Vallecano’s last friendly before the new season, because they will get their La Liga campaign up and running against Girona on August 15, before a two-legged Conference League qualifier against either KI Klaksvik or Neman, starting in two weeks.
Sunderland Preseason form:
W D L L L L
Rayo Vallecano Preseason form:
D W L
Team News
Sunderland's Chris Rigg pictured on April 20, 2024
Sunderland have added plenty of quality to their squad ahead of the new season, with the most recent recruits making their first appearance against Betis last week, as Granit Xhaka and goalkeeper Robin Roefs were both in the side.
There has still been no sighting of midfield wonderkid Chris Rigg or the influential Luke O’Nien this preseason though, and central defender Aji Alese remains sidelined with the broken leg he suffered last season.
Vallecano have kept the squad that finished eighth last season together to this point, so there are unlikely going to be many changes from the side Perez was fielding on a regular basis.
Augusto Batalla has made his loan move permanent in goal, while centre-back Luiz Felipe has also arrived as something of a coup from Marseille, bringing plenty of European experience with him.
Sergio Camello, Jonathan Montiel and Abdul Mumin are not set to feature though, as they continue their recoveries from injuries suffered last season.
Sunderland possible starting lineup:
Roefs; Hume, Huggins, Ballard, Reinildo; Diarra, Le Fee, Xhaka; Talbi, Mayenda, Adingra
Rayo Vallecano possible starting lineup:
Batalla; Balliu, Lejeune, Luiz Felipe, Chavarria; Ciss, Unai Lopez; Ratiu, Isi, Alvaro Garcia; De Frutos
SM words green background
We say: Sunderland 1-2 Rayo Vallecano
There is optimism in the Sunderland camp, but they have found it difficult in preseason against top-level opposition, and Vallecano will certainly offer that, in what will be a stern final test for Le Bris’s side.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
ID:578851:1false2false3false: from db desktop :LenBod:collect6620:
No Data Analysis info
Previews by email
Click here to get Sports Mole's daily email of previews and predictions for every major game!