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Patrick Roberts returned to Sunderland’s starting XI at Coventry City as boss Tony Mowbray made three changes against one for his former club. The Black Cats boss, who spent 18 months in charge of Coventry since early 2015, returned to his strongest side available at the Coventry Building Society Arena, while undoing the three changes he had made for the midweek defeat at Rotherham United and returned to the same team that started last weekend’s tie against Bristol City at the Stadium of Light.

Roberts made a huge impact coming off the bench at Rotherham, returning to the starting line-up against the Sky Blues, taking Alex Pritchard’s place. The other changes came to the right-back roles where Trai Hume returned in place of Luke O’Nien at right-back, and Aji Alese took back his place from Dennis Cirkin at left-back.

Pritchard and O’Nien were named on the bench, but Cirkin missed the matchday squad, presumably through injury, with Isaac Lihadji among the substitutes. Coventry boss Mark Robins named the same team that started last weekend’s 2-0 win at Rotherham.

READ MORE: Coventry City vs Sunderland LIVE: All the preparation from the Coventry Building Society Arena

His starting XI included two former Sunderland players: goalkeeper Ben Wilson, who came through the academy at Wearside, and defender Callum Doyle, who is on loan at Coventry from Manchester City this season after spending the last season Loaned with the Black Cats.

You can follow all the action on our live blog here.

today’s teams

Sunderlands: Patterson, Hume, Ballard, Batth, Alese, Michut, Neil, Roberts, Amad, Clarke, Gelhardt

Substitutes: Bass, O’Nien, Pritchard, Lihadji, Ekwah, Bennette, Ba

Coventry City: Wilson, McNally, McFadzean, Doyle, Hamer, Eccles, Norton-Cuffy, Allen, Palmer, Bidwell, Gyokeres

Substitutes: Moore, Rose, Wilson-Esbrand, Maguire, Walker, Dabo, Godden.

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