And there’s nothing better than Eddie Howe and the boys getting a statement win against one of the (annoyingly) in-form sides in the league this campaign.
But it will undoubtedly be a very tough task for us at the Stadium of Light; this is certainly not helped by any leniency towards rules and regulations for a number of Premier League teams, including Sunderland…
Sunderland will have all SEVEN African players available for the Tyne-Wear derby in just under a fortnight.
The match on Sunday 14 December will be the final match before each player heads off to play in this year’s African Cup of Nations, and Keith Downie from Sky Sports reports that Sunderland have managed to ensure that all seven will be available.
Clubs were initially expected to release their players around two weeks before the start of the tournament, which would have ruled out the likes of Mozambique’s Reinildo, DR Congo’s Noah Sadiki and Burkina Faso’s Bertrand Traore for the derby.
But now Premier League clubs will be allowed to keep their players for an extra week before releasing them for international duty on December 15.
This means that the following seven players, if fit, will be available for the Mackems:
- Burkina Faso: Bertrand Traore (RW)
- DR Congo: Noah Sadiki (CM), Arthur Masuaku (LB)
- Ivory Coast: Simon Adingra (LW)
- Morocco: Chemsdine Talbi (RW)
- Mozambique: Reinildo (LWB)
- Senegal: Habib Diarra (CM)
🚨 EXCL: Sunderland’s SEVEN AFCON players will be available for the Wear-Tyne derby next weekend.
🌍 FIFA has informed clubs that they can retain selected players for AFCON until December 15.
⚽️ High-flying Sunderland host Newcastle the day before, December… pic.twitter.com/q5vnHBHsOH– Keith Downie (@skysports_keith) December 1, 2025
Fortunately, AFCON is a non-issue for us after it was confirmed on Monday Yoane warnedthe only African international in our team, would not travel to Morocco for the tournament.
The Mail’s Craig Hope has previously hinted that, while Wissa’s return to fitness continues behind the scenes, he could be fit just in time to play in the derby, which would be a very welcome boost.
Unfortunately, while Sunderland and Regis Le Bris can be confident they have these seven African talents, Howe could potentially be left without at least one senior player a week on Sunday.
Kieran Trippier is a big miss: even if he wasn’t the most likely starter with how good Tino Livramento has been since his own return from injury, the vice-captain’s leadership, mentality and experience would have been huge.
With the 35-year-old already ruled out for a month last week, it seems highly likely that the right-back will miss, increasing our need to keep Tino and Lewis Hall fit over the next fortnight.
Sven Botman and Will Osula are difficult to call at the moment: the big Dutch defender is being taken to a specialist due to a back problem, while Osula is struggling with an ankle problem with no prognosis of an expected return.
Luckily though, we still have one of the strongest squads in the club’s history, fit and ready for whatever the derby has in store. While the match on the 14th will undoubtedly be tougher than the 3-0 FA Cup win just under two years ago, the likes of Bruno Guimaraes, Nick Woltemade and Malick Thiaw should give us more than enough confidence to return to St James’ Park with all three points.
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