The teams have met 143 times over the years, with the Blues winning 68 to the Black Cats’ 50.
David Moyes’ first game back in English football is in Manchester – more than two years since he was sacked as Manchester United manager.
Resuming our “We Meet Again” series, we look back at memorable meetings and the idols we share with the Wearsiders.
The Last Time…
City 4-1 Sunderland – 26/12/15
City were pretty much out of sight by half-time against Sam Allardyce’s side as the Christmas cheer extended to the Sunderland defence who were in a particularly generous mood.
The Blues raced into a 3-0 lead with just 22 minutes played courtesy of goals by Raheem Sterling, Wilfried Bony and Yaya Toure.
It looked as though Manuel Pellegrini’s men might run up a cricket score, but though Kevin De Bruyne added a fourth on 54 minutes, Fabio Borini’s strike five minutes later completed the scoring on a comfortable Boxing Day’s work for City.
One to remember…
City 3-3 Sunderland – 31/03/12
It was a game that proved to be crucial to City’s 2011/12 title triumph, though for much of the game, it appeared as though it maybe the match that would effectively hand United a huge advantage,
Having dropped points at Stoke the week before, a home win over the Black Cats was vital to keep City in the title race, but an attack of the jitters seemed to strike the players and it was no surprise when Seb Larsson’s 31st minute goal gave the visitors the lead.
Though Mario Balotelli levelled just before the break, Nicklas Bendtner scored almost immediately to send Sunderland in 2-1 up at the break. Another Larsson strike after 55 minutes seemed to have sealed three points for the visitors, particularly as they held their lead until the 85th minute.
But two goals in a minute from Balotelli and then a long-range special from Kolarov earned an unlikely but ultimately crucial point for the Blues.
One to forget…
Sunderland 1-0 City – 29/08/10
The Blues should have been out of sight by the time the game at the Stadium of Light ticked into added time.
Chances had been spurned – including an incredible open-goal miss by Carlos Tevez – but a 0-0 draw looked like a decent result, nonetheless.
Then, four minutes into added time, Darren Bent was held in the box by Micah Richards and referee Mike Dean pointed to the spot.
Bent made no mistake to send the home fans wild and the Blues were left to rue what might have been…
One we both love…
Dennis Tueart
When Dennis Tueart joined City from Sunderland in March 1974, he had become a huge crowd favourite at Roker Park.
The all-action forward was a key member of the side who shocked the football world by beating the mighty Leeds United 1-0 in the FA Cup final in 1973 and after six seasons on Wearside, Tueart had clocked up 217 appearances and scored 57 goals.
He joined City towards the end of the 73/74 campaign and quickly became a favourite among the Blues’ fans, leading the line with Rodney Marsh to begin with, then Joe Royle in his second full season.
His Wembley winning habit helped City clinch the 1976 League Cup with Tueart’s overhead kick proving to be the winning goal.
Hi 18 goals in 38 starts helped City to within one win of the 1976/77 top flight title and by the time he joined New York Cosmos in 1978 he’d scored 73 goals in 173 appearances.
Tueart returned to City in 1979, playing another 103 matches before leaving for Stoke in 1983. By that time, he’d played 276 matches for the Blues and scored 109 goals.
