Preview: Hearts vs Sunderland - prediction, team news, lineups

Hearts take a brief break away from domestic duties to face newly-promoted Premier League side Sunderland in a friendly at Tynecastle on Saturday afternoon.

This contest represents Craig Gordon’s testimonial match between two teams who meet for the first time since August 2009 when they played out a 1-1 friendly draw in Edinburgh.

Match preview

After experiencing a challenging 2024-25 campaign under Steven Naismith, Neil Critchley and Liam Fox, Hearts have since made a positive start to life under new head coach Derek McInnes who boasts a 100% record after four competitive matches.

Scotland’s domestic campaign began in the second week of July and the Jam Tarts have picked up a maximum 12 points in Group E of the Scottish League Cup courtesy of wins over Dumbarton (twice), Hamilton Academical and Stirling Albion, scoring 16 goals and conceding just one in the process.

Eleven days after beating Dumbarton 4-1 in their season opener on home soil, Hearts cruised to a 4-0 away victory in their most recent encounter with the Sons on Wednesday, with summer signings Alexandros Kyziridis and Claudio Braga on the scoresheet along with Lawrence Shankland and Michael Steinwender.

McInnes will now use this weekend’s friendly clash with Sunderland as one final opportunity to assess his squad ahead of the club’s opening Premiership fixture of the 2025-26 season at home to his former side Aberdeen on August 4.

While Hearts are already four competitive games into the new season, Sunderland are still counting down the days before they welcome West Ham United to the Stadium of Light for their first Premier League game in eight years on August 16.

Since beating Sheffield United 2-1 in the Championship playoff final in May, the Black Cats have taken part in four pre-season friendlies, with a youthful side drawing 2-2 with Gateshead on the same day (July 12) that a stronger outfit featuring more first-team stars beat South Shields 4-0.

Sunderland then made the trip to Portugal for a warm-weather training camp and they played out a 1-1 draw with Sevilla before losing 1-0 to Primeira Liga champions Sporting Lisbon on Monday.

Regis Le Bris and co still have five more friendly fixtures remaining in which they can build a positive run of form, with Saturday’s trip to Hearts followed by encounters against Hull City, Real Betis, Augsburg and Rayo Vallecano.

Hearts form (all competitions):

W W W W W

Sunderland pre-season form:

D W D L

Team News

Hearts goalkeeper Gordon is a doubt for his own testimonial match with a shoulder issue, but the 42-year-old - who has played 330 games for the Jam Tarts and 94 for Sunderland - is hoping to feature in at least part of the game this weekend.

Jamie McCart is sidelined until September with a ligament injury, while Frankie Kent (groin), Beni Baningime (strain), Christian Borchgrevink (hamstring) and Yan Dhanda (illness) will all be assessed ahead of kickoff.

Summer signings Braga and Elton Kabangu are both in contention to play in attack, while fellow new recruits Sabah Kerjota, Oisin McEntee and Stuart Findlay could also feature in some capacity.

As for Sunderland, Romaine Mundle recently underwent surgery on a hamstring injury sustained during the club’s training camp in Portugal and the winger faces a period on the sidelines.

Luke O'Nien (shoulder), Dennis Cirkin (wrist), Leo Hjelde (Achilles) and Aji Alese (thigh) all remain sidelined with injuries, while Chris Rigg and Nectar Triantis will have knocks assessed before kickoff.

New signing Reinildo Mandava was granted additional time off after representing Atletico Madrid at the FIFA Club World Cup, but he took part in training in Portugal last week and the left-back will be in contention to make his first appearance for the Black Cats against Hearts.

Hearts possible starting lineup:

Gordon; Steinwender, McEntee, Findlay; Kartum, Devlin, Nieuwenhof, Spittal; Braga, Shankland, Kyziridis

Sunderland possible starting lineup:

Patterson; Hume, Ballard, Seelt, Reinildo; Diarra, Sadiki, Le Fee; Adingra, Mayenda, Roberts

We say: Hearts 2-2 Sunderland

Hearts are heading into this contest in high spirits and have been scoring goals for fun, netting exactly four goals in all four competitive matches this season. Sunderland will also back themselves to make the net ripple, but we can see the spoils being share on Gordon’s special day.