Manchester City v Sunderland, Premier League 2014/15: Where to watch live, preview, betting odds and possible XI

Manchester City host Sunderland at the Etihad Stadium on New Year's Day as Manuel Pellegrini's men look to go level with Chelsea who play later in the day.

Where to watch live

Kick-off is set for 3pm GMT. Live coverage of the game will be available on BT Sport 1 and BT Sport 1 HD.

Overview

Manchester City lost a brilliant chance on Sunday to close in on Chelsea and trail the table leaders with just one point, after they settled for a draw against Burnley. Meanwhile Chelsea were undone by a stubborn Southampton side who held them to a 1-1 draw, throwing the title race wide open.

It was an opportunity lost for the Pellegrini to close the gap on Jose Mourinho, who had once threatened to run away with the league. However, lapses on the Blues' side will encourage the Chilean, who is desperate to do well and keep his position intact and not fall like Roberto Mancini, who was sacked a year after he won the league with the Cityzens.

City will do well to keep their concentration against Sunderland, having learnt a lesson in their last match and hope that Tottenham manage to pull off an upset against Chelsea, who will come back stronger.

Sunderland on the other hand, having lost the reverse fixture 4-1 to Manchester City, will be glad to see Sergio Aguero not playing the game. City have enough quality to hurt the Black Cats and Gus Poyet's men have to be at their very best if they want to salvage anything out of the fixture.

City do have a vicious home record against Sunderland, winning eight and losing none in their last 10 outings against the visitors.

What managers say

Manuel Pellegrini: "In general it [2014] has been successful. We have the next five months now to continue to improve the way we play. I hope we start the new year winning three points. Sunderland are a good team with a good manager. They have strong players."

Gus Poyet: "Now [City] have drawn and it's a little bit of a wake-up call so I don't know, we will see. We know Manchester City, we know how good they are, we know the quality they have got. We need to make sure that we are good on the day."

Betting odds (888Sport.com)

• Manchester City to win: 4/17
• Draw: 11/2
• Sunderland to win: 23/2

Team news

Manchester City

• Injured: Dzeko (calf), Kolarov (calf), Kompany (hamstring), Aguero (knee)
• Doubtful: N/A
• Suspended: Fernandinho

Possible XI: Hart, Zabaleta, Demichelis, Mangala, Clichy, Toure, Fernando, Milner, Nasri, Navas, Jovetic.

Sunderland

• Injured: Van Aanholt (shoulder)
• Doubtful: N/A
• Suspended: N/A

Possible XI: Pantilimon; Vergini, O'Shea, Brown, Reveillere; Cattermole, Rodwell; Johnson, Larsson, Wickham; Fletcher.