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

Two teams who could face each other in the Europa League in 2026-27 will wrap up their pre-season campaigns on Saturday as Premier League side Sunderland welcome Rennes of Ligue 1 to the Stadium of Light.

Heading into this match, the Black Cats are riding a two-game winning streak, defeating Lens 2-0 last weekend, while their upcoming French opponents were beaten 4-2 by Brentford last Saturday.

Match preview

After a magical first season in the top flight, expectations will be high for Sunderland, a side who will feature in Europe this time around, aiming to build off a seventh-place finish domestically in 2025-26.

The fourth-best defensive team regarding goals conceded (48) in the last Premier League campaign have yet to allow a single goal in their two pre-season outings this month.

As a manager, Regis Le Bris has never lost a competitive game versus Rennes, winning all four of his Ligue 1 matches against them while in charge of Lorient.

Le Bris knows Stade Rennais well, having previously served as an academy coach with the club years ago, while he grew up in Brittany, specifically in Pont-L’Abbe, about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Rennes.

With a win on Saturday, Sunderland would end the pre-season with a 100% record on English soil, having beaten York City 5-1 in Huntington in mid-July.

At the same time, they can snap a three-match pre-season winless run at the Stadium of Light this weekend, with their last such victory coming versus Hull City in July 2021 (2-1).

Like Sunderland, Stade Rennais are coming off a solid 2025-26 domestic campaign, finishing sixth in the French top flight.

Franck Haise took this struggling team out of mediocrity and dramatically turned around their fortunes in the final few months of the last Ligue 1 campaign.

The Frenchman has only coached in one competitive game in England when his former team, Lens, were hammered 6-0 by Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in the 2023-24 Champions League group stage.

Defensively, Stade Rennais still has room for improvement, allowing a combined seven goals in their last two pre-season friendlies, the same amount they gave up in their last three matches of the 2025-26 Ligue 1 campaign.

A win for them on Saturday would be their first in the pre-season versus a Premier League team since defeating Nottingham Forest 5-0 in August of 2023 in Burton Upon Trent.

Rennes have won their last two pre-season outings after netting the opening goal, but lost their first such game of this pre-season in that scenario, 2-1 versus Caen.

Sunderland friendly form:

Rennes friendly form:

Team News

For this final pre-season affair, we are unlikely to see Omar Alderete or Nordi Mukiele feature for Sunderland, with Le Bris admitting that both have minor knocks, with Romaine Mundle and Simon Adingra also questionable due to injuries.

Trai Hume and Wilson Isidor netted last week in that victory over Lens, with Robin Roefs collecting a clean sheet between the sticks.

Charlie Cresswell will hope to make his first appearance of the pre-season, having signed with Rennes from Toulouse in early August.

Sebastian Szymanski and Valentin Rongier scored in their loss last weekend, while Esteban Lepaul, the top goalscorer in Ligue 1 last season, is hoping to add to the six goals he has already in the pre-season.

Sunderland possible starting lineup:

Roefs; Meunier, Ballard, O’Nien, Reinildo; Xhaka, Diarra; Hume, Le Fee, Angulo; Brobbey

Rennes possible starting lineup:

Samba; Frankowski, Boudlal, Cresswell, Merlin; Rongier; Al-Taamari, Szymanski, Thomasson, Soumare; Lepaul

We say: Sunderland 1-2 Rennes

Le Bris might be a little wary about playing aggressively and risking more injuries in this meaningless game, so we expect his side to play passively, allowing a potent attacking team like Rennes to take advantage.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.