The Championship season gets underway this weekend, with Sunderland travelling to Cardiff City.
Sunderland journey to Wales to face Cardiff City in what is Regis Le Bris’ opening game as the Black Cats’ new head coach.
Le Bris was appointed Sunderland manager earlier this summer after what was a pain-staking managerial search process for the Sunderland owners and sporting director Kristjaan Speakman.
Several names came into contention for the job at the Stadium of Light, with several dropping out of contention, and a few withdrawing from contention.
But Le Bris has fans quietly optimistic for the season ahead with Sunderland having kept all of their star players so far this summer.
Players incoming has slightly disappointing with Sunderland having signed four free agents so far, and still looking for a new striker.
The Black Cats have been mentioned alongside several strikers including Alexandre Mendy and Ike Ugbo, though it looks like Sheffield Wednesday are set to sign Ugbo ahead of Sunderland.
Cardiff City vs Sunderland score prediction
Erol Bulut’s Cardiff City have enjoyed a decent pre-season with good results against the likes of Hamburger SV among others.
And Bulut has spoken confidently about Cardiff’s preparations ahead of the Sunderland game, which promises to be a challenging one for both sides.
Speaking on the Championship Check-In podcast head of this weekend, EFL pundit and former player Sam Parkin has given his verdict on the game.
He expects both sides to be leaky in defence this season, which could be especially so for Sunderland given the injury to Dan Ballard.
Parkin said: “I think Cardiff, one of the most eye-catching transfer windows thus far. Sunderland I think will be exciting.”
Parkin added: “I think they’ll probably ship a few, both of these sides, so therefore I’ll go for 2-2.”
What would be a good result for Regis Le Bris in his opening Sunderland game
Le Bris will surely have some nerves going into this one. And so too will Speakman and the board, as their reputation is arguably on the line with this appointment.
Perhaps anything other than defeat would be a good result for Le Bris in his opening game.
Cardiff are a physically strong and direct side and they’ve added some technical ability to their ranks this summer with the signing of previous Sunderland target Chris Willock.
Sunderland remain something of an unknown quantity under Le Bris. But the Frenchman still has a very strong team on paper and so Sunderland should take confidence into the new season.
The lack of a striker remain a worry, though, and who leads the line on Saturday remains a mystery.