Sunderland will look to continue their unbeaten start to the Championship season when they welcome Queens Park Rangers to the Stadium of Light on Saturday.

The visitors, meanwhile, are aiming to clinch their first away victory of the season after failing to win their opening two away matches in all competitions.

Match preview

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Newly-promoted Sunderland have needed no time to adapt to the Championship, with their opening two league games yielding four points.

They began the new campaign with a 1-1 home draw against Coventry City before prevailing in a five-goal thriller against Bristol City last weekend.

Despite taking the lead through Ellis Simms, Sunderland fell behind after Andreas Weimann and Chris Martin grabbed a goal apiece, but another Simms effort and a Ross Stewart strike guided the Black Cats to a 3-2 win.

Alex Neil's side were unable to follow up their first victory of the season, losing 2-0 away to Sheffield Wednesday in the first round of the EFL Cup in midweek.

Sunderland will aim to respond to their EFL Cup defeat by continuing their unbeaten start to the Championship season on Saturday, and they also have the chance to clinch their first league win over QPR since March 2012.

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The visitors, meanwhile, are also looking to bounce back from the EFL Cup exit after they were beaten on penalties by Charlton Athletic.

The R's looked set to progress to the second round when Tyler Roberts netted the opening goal in the 80th minute, but Aaron Henry's equalised in the final minute of regulation time to take the tie to penalties, where Charlton scored all five goals to eliminate QPR.

Despite exiting the EFL Cup in midweek, QPR have the chance to clinch consecutive league victories after claiming their first win of the season last weekend.

Like Saturday's opponents, the R's also emerged victorious from a five-goal thriller in their most recent Championship game, beating Middlesbrough 3-2 with Chris Willock, Jimmy Dunne and Lyndon Dykes all getting on the scoresheet.

QPR will attempt to follow up their first victory of the campaign when they travel to the Stadium of Light on Saturday, looking to extend their unbeaten league run in meetings with Sunderland to seven matches.

Team News

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Neil made a number of changes to the Sunderland side for the trip to Hillsborough in midweek, but he could revert to the same starting XI that beat Bristol City last weekend.

That would mean that the Black Cats would operate with a back three that features Daniel Ballard, Danny Batth and Dennis Cirkin.

After scoring three goals between them last Saturday, Simms and Stewart will look to provide the goal threat once again.

As for the visitors, Roberts scored on his debut in midweek, but after returning from injury to feature for 30 minutes, the Leeds United loanee is not expected to be fit enough to start against Sunderland.

Like their hosts, QPR rotated their squad in midweek, and they could be tempted to opt for the same lineup that started in their last league match.

Dykes will lead the line for Michael Beale's side after opening his account for the season in QPR's 3-2 victory over Middlesbrough last weekend.

Sunderland possible starting lineup:
Patterson; Ballard, Batth, Cirkin; Gooch, Evans, Pritchard, Neil, Clarke; Simms, Stewart

Queens Park Rangers possible starting lineup:
Dieng; Kakay, Dickie, Dunne, Paal; Field, Johansen; Willock, Amos, Chair; Dykes

We say: Sunderland 1-1 Queens Park Rangers

Although Sunderland will look to utilise home advantage, we think that they will have to settle for a point against a side they have not beaten since 2012.

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