Sunderland and Newcastle steeled for resumption of football's most intense derby'

"Midnight was fast approaching when Eddie Howe faced a curve-ball question: if he could be offered a draw at the Stadium of Light on Sunday would he accept it? If the typically straight-bat answer no chance, we prepare to win every game was expected, Howe's subsequent reaction spoke volumes about Sunderland's recent metamorphosis. Newcastle's manager was standing on a concrete concourse at the BayArena, where his team were hugely frustrated to have been held 2-2 by Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Wednesday, but his focus had switched to a potentially bigger challenge on Wearside."

"The north-east's absolutely obsessed by this game. It's an intense rivalry. It's a game where my players can write their names in the history books and it's also my first time going up against Regis Le Bris. I've been impressed by how his team have played this season."

"It is all so very different from January 2024 and a third-round FA Cup tie on Wearside that Sunderland supporters regard as perhaps the darkest hour before an unexpectedly glorious dawn. The thoroughly outclassed Championship hosts, under the short-lived management of Michael Beale, lost 3-0, with Dan Ballard's own goal paving the way for Alexander Isak to score twice for Newcastle. After the final whistle Howe's assistant, Jason Tindall, incensed home fans by taking a celebratory group photograph of the visiting team on the pitch. By way of further exacerbating Wearside pain, the Sunderland owner, Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, had been forced to apologise for a serious error in judgment on the eve of the match when a bar at the Stadium of Light seconded as a corporate hospitality area for visiting fans was repainted black and white."

Eddie Howe was asked whether he would accept a draw at the Stadium of Light and instead emphasised the significance of the Sunderland derby after Newcastle's 2-2 draw with Bayer Leverkusen. He called the fixture probably the most intense derby, praised Regis Le Bris' team and noted the north-east's obsession with the game. Newcastle sit 12th, one point and three places beneath promoted Sunderland. Sunderland's rise contrasts with their January 2024 third-round FA Cup defeat under Michael Beale, a match that included a 3-0 loss, fan anger and an owner apology.

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