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A trip to Old Trafford is a good reminder you are back in the Premier League - but is it the same United?!

Saturday 4th October 2025

Manchester United v Sunderland – Premier League

Stadium of LightKick-Off: 15:00

Tickets & Match Coverage

Tickets: Tickets are sold out.

TV/Stream: Full live match coverage is unavailable in the UK.

Radio: Full live match commentary available via BBC Radio Newcastle (not online)

Don’t forget to follow the blow-by-blow account of the game on the Roker Report Twitter feed (@RokerReport) and check out the player ratings after the full-time whistle at www.RokerReport.sbnation.com!

The build-up…

Have we ever travelled to Old Trafford with as much confidence?! Something about it just doesn’t feel right, but as we’ll cover, it’s not all about having confidence in Sunderland; it’s looking at how far United have fallen recently.

The main news coming out of the manager’s press conference during the week was that the rumours of Nordi Mukiele being injured were seemingly news to him, and he gave him a full bill of health. Yes, Dan Ballard has been great when he’s been asked to do a job this season, and yes, we have others who could come in, but if we’re all honest, we want to see him in there for what is arguably Sunderland’s first glamour game of the season.

Check out Martin’s thoughts on our starting XI today. Still, talk of consistency suggests that Le Bris may stick with the XI that took the field at the City Ground. Still, analysis of the opposition in the middle of the park might tempt the manager into making a change.

Le Bris provided some insight into his thinking as the season progresses during midweek when he spoke of the way we defend and make ourselves difficult to break down first and foremost, which gives us the platform to then express ourselves later in the game. But there was talk of improving in the final third and most notably on the transition, which might be a hint that we’re beginning to focus on catching sides on the break a little more, as we’ve not got the foundations we need to build on.

As we’ve said, Palace, Forest and Villa are all very good sides with histories and prestige, but this is Manchester United, and in some ways it feels like we’ve really returned to the Premier League today.

Well. What has happened at Manchester United? People above a certain age will know there was a period of ~20 years where United had the beating of most opposition sides in the tunnel before the players even took to the pitch. It was a case of keeping the score down rather than if you would take something.

But we travel to the Theatre of Dreams with United sitting nine places below Sunderland, but it has to be said that with an opportunity to be only a point behind us should they win today.

Following a good showing against Arsenal on the opening day, they have seemingly scraped to results on home soil since then. A late winner against Burnley, who were unfortunate to come away with nothing, was followed up with a strange game against Chelsea, where a red card for the away side gave United a chance to take a two-goal lead.

A lot of talk has centred around Amorim’s formation, but there were incidents during their last game at Brentford that were down to individual errors rather than formation, which points to deeper-rooted problems than just the system.

But one way or another, they will sort themselves out, and there might not be a better chance for us to claim a third league victory at Old Trafford since 1968.

The betting…

The bookies have the Lads at 5/1 to win the game, while United are favourites at 1/2, and the draw is 10/3.

Head to head… in Manchester…

(All competitions)

Sunderland wins: 12
Draws: 18
Manchester United wins: 43
Sunderland goals: 78
Manchester United goals: 153

Last time we met… at Old Trafford

Monday 26th December 2016

Championship

Manchester United 0-1 Sunderland

[Blind 39’, Ibrahimovic 82’, Mkhitaryan 86’ – Borini 90’]

Sunderland: Pickford, Jones, Denayer, Kone, Djilobodji, van Aanholt, Ndong (Love), Larsson (Khazri), Borini, Anichebe, Defoe Substitutes not used: Mannone, O’Shea, Embleton, Honeyman, Asoro
Manchester United: De Gea, Valencia, Blind, Carrick, Jones, Rojo, Herrera (Felliani), Pogba, Ibrahimovic, Mata (Martial), Lingard (Mkhitaryan) Substitutes not used: Romero, Darmian, Smalling, Rashford
Attendance: 75,325

Played for both…

Peter Davenport

Davenport was plucked from the West Cheshire league by Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest and didn’t look back. Four years at the City Ground resulted in a move to Manchester United in 1986 under Ron Atkinson and then Alex Ferguson, before joining Middlesbrough and then the Lads in 1990.

Three years and 120 appearances later, Davenport made a move north of the border to join Airdrie. Spells at St Johnstone, Stockport County, Southport and Macclesfield Town followed before retiring in 2004.