Niall Huggins started his first senior game for 14 months as Tony Mowbray made four changes to the side that began last weekend's home defeat against Cardiff City. With Luke O'Nien missing out through suspension, and with Dennis Cirkin picking up an injury, Mowbray was forced to make changes in both full-back positions.
Former Leeds United man Huggins, who has been sidelined since September 2021 and was only recently eased back into action with the U21s, started at left-back in place of Cirkin, and Trai Hume came in for O'Nien at right-back. The other changes saw Corry Evans and Alex Pritchard - both of whom were rested against Cardiff - return in midfield, with Abdoullah Ba and Patrick Roberts making way.
Both Ba and Roberts were included on the bench. Also on the bench was 17-year-old centre-back Zak Johnson, who was brought in to provide defensive cover.
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Fellow teens Chris Rigg (15) and Tom Watson (16) travelled with the squad to the Midlands, but did not make the matchday 18. Birmingham City boss John Eustace made two changes, in his case to the side that drew 2-2 against Swansea City here at St Andrew's on Tuesday night.
Jobe Bellingham - 17-year-old younger brother of England international Jude - made his first league start for the club, while on-loan Derby County midfielder Krystian Bielik also came into the side, with Jordan Graham and Tahith Chong dropping to the bench. Former Sunderland loanee Dion Sanderson started for the Blues.
Here's how the Black Cats line up tonight. You can follow the action as it happens in our live blog here.
Tonight's teams
Sunderland: Patterson, Hume, Wright, Batth, Huggins, Evans, Neil, Amad, Pritchard, Clarke, Simms
Subs: Bass, Embleton, Roberts, Ba, Bennette, Matete, Johnson
Birmingham City: Ruddy, Colin, Sanderson, Trusty, Bacuna, Bellingham, Bielik, Hannibal, Longelo, Deeney, Hogan
Subs: Etheridge, Friend, Graham, James, Hall, Chong, Jutkiewicz
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