Sunderland will put their Premier League survival mission to once side when they welcome Brentford to the Stadium of Light for an EFL Cup fourth-round tie on Wednesday night.

The Black Cats and the Bees meet just over seven weeks after playing out a 1-1 top-flight draw at the Gtech Community Stadium.

Match preview

After eight Premier League games, Sunderland sit rock bottom of the table with only five points, but they did at least end a four-match losing streak on Sunday by claiming a hard-fought point from a goalless stalemate with Leeds on home soil.

Regis Le Bris highlighted his team's intensity and togetherness post-match, stating that the most positive aspect of their performance was the way they played like a true Sunderland side, one that also kept their first top-flight clean sheet since August.

The Black Cats have collected nine points fewer than they managed at the same stage of last season's Premier League, the biggest drop-off from any team after eight matches, and Le Bris has encouraged his players to 'embrace the new challenge' of juggling league and cup duties with their Europa League campaign.

Important fixtures against Coventry City, Dinamo Zagreb and Chelsea are on the horizon for Sunderland, but they must first shift their focus to the EFL Cup as they attempt to advance to the fifth round for the first time since 2021-22 when they reached the quarter-finals.

The two-time EFL Cup finalists (1985 and 2014) edged past Hull City by a slender 1-0 scoreline in the third round last month. They also beat Brentford 2-1 in their last PL home encounter back in August last year, with two late goals from Enzo Le Fee and Wilson Isidor securing a dramatic comeback win.

After suffering their first Premier League defeat of the season at home to Liverpool, Brentford battled from a goal down at half time to rescue a point in a 1-1 draw with newly-promoted Hull City on Sunday – their fifth draw in eight games this season.

While the Bees remain in a respectable sixth place in the table and are yet to lose on the road this term, converting solitary points into all three will be high on the agenda for head coach Keith Andrews, who is aiming to better last season’s ninth-placed finish.

The EFL Cup is also a “serious competition” for Brentford, who have progressed beyond round four in four of the last six years, reaching back-to-back quarter-finals in the last two seasons and the semi-finals in 2020-21.

Brentford breezed to a 6-1 victory at Birmingham City in round two at the end of August, before they held off a late fightback from League One side Reading to win 2-1 away from home in the third round last month.

The Bees head into Wednesday’s clash with Sunderland having only lost one of their last eight meetings with the Black Cats in all competitions (W4 D3), while they have also prevailed in two of their previous three cup ties, including a 4-3 second-round thriller in the inaugural edition of the EFL Cup back in 1960-61.

Sunderland EFL Cup form:

Sunderland form (all competitions):

Brentford EFL Cup form:

Brentford form (all competitions):

Team News

Sunderland are still having to cope without Daniel Ballard (hamstring), Romaine Mundle (knee) and Kevin Danso (suspended), while Thomas Meunier (hamstring) and Wilson Isidor (unspecified) are both doubtful.

Le Bris has confirmed that Nordi Mukiele has not picked up an injury after coming of just seven minutes in to the second half against Leeds. The Frenchman is therefore in contention to either continue at centre-back or move over to the right side of a four-man defence.

Brian Brobbey recovered from a hamstring injury to start and play for 65 minutes against Leeds. Another start up front on Wednesday cannot be ruled out, but Le Bris may consider managing his minutes and hand Timur Tutierov the centre-forward role instead.

As for Brentford, Antoni Milambo (knock), Joshua Dasilva (hamstring) and Kaye Furo (foot) all remain out with injuries, while Yehor Yarmoluyk is serving the second of a three-match suspension.

However, Vitaly Janelt is available to return from a one-match ban and he could replace Aaron Hickey, who was used in a surprise midfield position against Hull and could revert to a familiar right-back role.

Fabio Carvalho scored in the previous round against Reading and will hope to be involved on Wednesday after being left out of the squad entirely last weekend. Former Newcastle striker Callum Wilson – another goalscorer against Reading – Mikkel Damsgaard, El Hadji Malick Diouf and Nathan Collins could also be handed starts.

Sunderland possible starting lineup:

Ellborg; Mukiele, O'Nien, Alderete, Methalie; Ahoka, Rigg; Fofana, Diarra, Angulo; Tutyerov

Brentford possible starting lineup:

Valdimarsson; Hickey, Schuster, Collins, Diouf; Sangare, Janelt; Anthony, Carvalho, Damsgaard; Wilson

We say: Sunderland 0-2 Brentford

With both managers highly likely to heavily shuffle their packs in the North East, the playing field could well be levelled in an EFL Cup tie that ranks very differently on each club's priority list this season.

While a weary Sunderland outfit are currently balancing a Premier League relegation scrap with European commitments, a thriving Brentford side are taking this competition seriously and should ultimately field a strong enough team to navigate their way past an out-of-sorts Black Cats side to secure their passage into round five.

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