Mark Hughes and his Stoke side will be keen to put the shambles of their last game firmly behind them by taking all three points from their visit to relegation-haunted Sunderland.
Their untimely exit from the FA Cup following the embarrassing 2-0 loss to local rivals Wolves is still fresh for the fans who are expecting a suitable response given that it's one of the league's perennial bottom dwellers up next and not a more daunting prospect. In fact, this season the Potters have only managed to beat sides towards the foot of the table with the average position of those opponents being 16th in the league; so there's at least some optimism of a positive result.