Preview: Newcastle United vs. Sunderland

Newcastle United host rivals Sunderland at St James' Park on Sunday, looking for a victory to move themselves further away from the Premier League relegation zone.

Papiss Cisse's late strike secured Newcastle a victory over Fulham last weekend to move them up to 13th in the table, five points clear of the bottom three.

Sunderland, however, are outside of the relegation zone on goal difference following a run of nine games without a victory. The Black Cats lost 2-1 at Chelsea last week in Paolo Di Canio's first match as manager.

Newcastle boss Alan Pardew will be forced to rotate his squad following the club's Europa League quarter-final exit at the hands of Benfica on Thursday evening. Fabricio Coloccini, Davide Santon and Cheik Tiote will be absent through injury, while Hatem Ben Arfa may start after making a quick recovery from a hamstring injury.

The visitors will be without skipper Lee Cattermole, top scorer Steven Fletcher, Wes Brown and Carlos Cuellar due to injuries. John O'Shea and Matthew Kilgallon are expected to keep their places in defence.

Connor Wickham could retain his place in the starting XI ahead of Danny Graham.

Recent form

Newcastle: WLWLLW

Sunderland: LDLDLL

Possible starting lineups

Newcastle: Krul; Simpson, Williamson, Yanga-M'Biwa, Anita; Ben Arfa, Cabaye, Sissoko, Gutierrez, Gouffran; Cisse

Sunderland: Mignolet; Bardsley, O'Shea, Kilgallon, Rose; Johnson, Larsson, Gardner, N'Diaye, Sessegnon; Graham

Sports Mole says: 1-1