Manchester City will look to recover from the disappointing defeat to Liverpool at the weekend with a victory over bottom club Sunderland in the English Premier League.
Where to Watch Live:
The game is scheduled for a 7.45 pm BST (12.15 am IST, 2.45 pm ET) start with live coverage on Star Sports 4 and Star Sports HD2 in India. The action can also be watched online via live streaming in India HERE. Watch the action in the US HERE. The match can be watched live online in the Middle East and North Africa HERE, while South Africa and Sub Saharan Africa viewers can catch the action HERE. The game can be live streamed by Canada viewers HERE, while Australia viewers can do so HERE.
City went down 3-2 in a thrilling Premier League clash at Anfield on Sunday, and with it taking the title out of their hands. There is very little Man City can do if Liverpool win the rest of their four games, but one thing that Manuel Pellegrini's side can ensure is that they keep the pressure on the Reds starting with a victory against beleaguered Sunderland.
"The team knows perfectly what they have to do -- we still have six more games and we will fight to the end for the title," Pellegrini said on Tuesday. "If we don't do it, it's because Liverpool have won their four games, I don't think anything changed on Sunday.
"We must win our games, we can't do anything about other teams. We know exactly what we have to do -- we start tomorrow, hoping to win one of the postponed games. Maybe we must win our two postponed games but then we would be just one point behind. If you don't believe we can do that, you can't believe in anything.
"We've had a good season so far and we hope we finish in the same way."
City defeated Sunderland in the Capital One Cup final earlier this year, but Pellegrini knows Gus Poyet's side will be a different prospect from that match, with the Black Cats desperate for three points of their own as they desperately battle to avoid the drop.
"Playing against a team in the relegation spots is very difficult -- nobody can think that one of those games will be easy," Pellegrini added. "I am sure they will try to fight to the end to stay in the Premier League. It's a different game to Wembley -- one thing doesn't have a relationship with the other.
"It's difficult when you don't win the game before but as I said, the players are conscious that we are fighting from now until the end of the season, so I am sure we will see something from them tomorrow.
"It's important we start against Sunderland with the same high performance we showed at the end of the Liverpool game."
Sunderland were a little unlucky to go down 1-0 to Everton at the weekend, a result which came at an awful time for the club, with Cardiff City and Fulham, the two teams above them, picking up victories. However, they do have two games in hand over their rivals, but it will mean little if they cannot make full use of them in terms of points.
"Every team we come up against is a Barclays Premier League team," Cattermole told the club's official website. "We're all in the same league playing for the same points so why shouldn't we go out and get a result?
"Obviously against Manchester City it will be difficult, we know this, they're a world-class team, but if we're to stay in this league we need to get points and you get those by beating whoever's in front of you."
Team news: Manchester City: Yaya Toure has been ruled out for at least ten days, with the news coming as somewhat of a relief for City as it was feared the midfielder, who limped off in the loss to Liverpool, could be out for the rest of the season. Matija Nastasic is still out, but Pellegrini revealed Sergio Aguero and Vincent Kompany, who had a horror game against Liverpool, came out of the Anfield game felling no adverse effects.
Sunderland: Phil Bardsley serves the first of his two-match suspension after picking up his tenth yellow card of the season, while Steven Fletcher is unlikely to feature as the striker continues his recovery from an ankle injury.
Expected lineups: Manchester City: Hart; Zabaleta, Kompany, Demichelis, Kolarov; Garcia, Fernandinho; Nasri, Aguero, Silva; Dzeko.
Sunderland: Mannone; Cuellar, Brown, O'Shea, Bardsley; Colback, Cattermole; Borini, Ki, Johnson, Wickham.
