The Lads return to Premier League as Crystal Palace visit the Stadium of Light.
Saturday 17th January 2026
Sunderland v Crystal Palace – Premier League
Stadium of Light Kick-Off: 15:00
Tickets & Match Coverage
Tickets: Tickets are sold out.
TV/Stream: Full live match coverage is not available in the UK.
Radio: Full live match commentary available via BBC Radio Newcastle (not online)
Don’t forget to follow the blow-by-blow account of the game on the Roker Report Twitter feed (@RokerReport) and check out the player ratings after the full-time whistle at www.RokerReport.sbnation.com!
The build-up…
It felt like last week was just what we needed in some ways. Like when you just need an afternoon off work and you feel all the better for it – in that sense it feels good to get back to the bread and butter of the Premier League.
Crystal Palace are the visitors to the Stadium of Light in a fixture we haven’t seen on Wearside for almost nine and a half years. On that occasion, David Moyes and Alan Pardew were in the dugouts and after taking a 2-0 lead on the hour via a Jermain Defoe brace, we lost 3-2. In fact, we haven’t come out on top in their past five visits and we have to go back to 2003 to find our last home victory against them in the league.
But back to the modern day and both clubs go into the game looking to get back to winning ways with Palace looking for their first in six games and the Lads have one victory on the board in the last six – against the visitors.
Despite the fact Palace are only three places and two points below Sunderland in the table, there’s a different feel about the clubs at the moment that was evident on the eve of the game.
The top two football stories broke when Marc Guéhi agreed a £20m deal to join Man City and was withdrawn from the squad for the weekend, and then Oliver Glasner announced he was leaving at the end of the season. It may have been the worst-kept secret in football, but the announcement of a manager leaving months in advance rarely has a positive effect.
Sunderland on the other hand are almost at full strength, other than Traoré (and to a lesser extent Masuaku), which means Le Bris has some tough decisions, especially at the back where we’re spoilt for choice. Will this lead to four or five at the back?
Today is a run of three games, with West Ham away and Burnley at home to follow where we can potentially be close to that magical 40-point mark by the time we go to Arsenal on February 7th.
The betting…
The bookies have the Lads at 23/10 to win the game, while Everton are priced at 23/20, and the draw is 2/1.
Head to head… at Sunderland
(All competitions)
- Sunderland wins: 11
- Draws: 9
- Crystal Palace wins: 5
- Sunderland goals: 25
- Crystal Palace goals: 20
Last time we met… at the Stadium of Light
Saturday 24th September 2016
Premier League
Stadium of Light
Sunderland 2-3 Crystal Palace
[Defoe 39’, 60’ – Ledley 61’, McArthur 76’, Benteke 90’]
Sunderland: Pickford, Manquillo, Kone, Djilobodji, Kirchoff, van Aanholt, Cattermole (McNair), Ndong, Pienaar (Watmore), Januzaj (Anichebe) Substitutes not used: Mika, Denayer, O’Shea, Khazri
Crystal Palace: Mandanda, Ward, Kelly (Fryers), Ledley, Tomkins, Delaney, Puncheon (Lee), McArthur, Benteke, Cabaye (Wickham), Townsend Substitutes not used: Hennessey, Wynter, Mutch, Sako
Attendance: 38,941
Prediction…
Sunderland 2-0 Crystal Palace
If you listened to the preview this morning, you will have heard a full house for a 2-0 win, and who am I to argue?
Category: General Sports
