Team News: Kelechi Iheanacho earns Manchester City start

Kelechi Iheanacho's FA Cup hat-trick at the weekend has earned him a start for Manchester City tonight as they travel to relegation-threatened Sunderland.

The youngster comes in for Kevin De Bruyne, who has been ruled out for up to 10 weeks after being injured in the 2-2 draw at West Ham United 10 days ago, playing alongside Jesus Navas and David Silva as support for lone forward Sergio Aguero.

Outgoing manager Manuel Pellegrini makes one other change as Fernandinho comes in for Fabian Delph, who is out with a calf injury.

The visiting Black Cats waste no time bringing their mid-season signings into the fold, with Lamine Kone and Jan Kirchhoff starting at the centre of a five-man backline as Wes Brown and Adam Johnson drop to the bench.

Sam Allardyce's other two signings of the window, Wahbi Khazri and Dame N'Doye, start the contest among the subs.

Sunderland: Mannone; Jones, O'Shea, Kone, Kirchhoff, Van Aanholt; Cattermole, M'Vila, Borini, Lens; Defoe Subs: Pickford, Brown, N'Doye, Johnson, Khazri, Yedlin, Watmore

Manchester City: Hart; Sagna, Demichelis, Otamendi, Clichy; Fernandinho, Yaya Toure; Navas, Silva, Iheanacho; Aguero Subs: Caballero, Kolarov, Zabaleta, Fernando, Celina, Barker, Sterling

Follow live coverage of the game from the Stadium of Light with Sports Mole's text commentary here.