Manchester City finished 2025 in style and will be looking to get the new year off to a flier when they take on Premier League shock troops Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
Pep Guardiola's revamped side are now starting to purr and they racked up eight successive wins at the end of the year.
City weren't at their best last weekend but still managed to dig out a 2-1 victory at Nottingham Forest, with two tips coming up for The Betting Desk.
That kept them hot in the heels of Arsenal at the top of the Premier League and Sunderland should provide another stiff test on the road for New Year's Day.
Regis Le Bris' men were odds-on for an instant return to the Championship at the start of the season but instead find themselves in the thick of the fight for European places.
Losing so many players to the Africa Cup of Nations threatened to knock them off their stride but the response has been good so far, with battling draws against Brighton and Leeds.
Manchester City are a step up in class from those two opponents but with a bouncing Stadium of Light behind them, Sunderland will go all out to cause an upset.
How the bookies view it: City to stay on a roll
With Manchester City in such hot form and Sunderland missing some key players, it's no surprise to see Guardiola's side as favourites, although they look too short at 4/9 with most firms.
Sunderland are as big as 7/1 with Betfred while the draw is priced at 19/5 by BetMGM.
Recent head to head: Black Cats getting mauled
Manchester City eased to a 3-0 win when Sunderland came to the Etihad earlier this season. That was their first meeting since the Black Cats were relegated from the top flight in 2017 and City have now racked up eight successive victories in this fixture.
Players to watch: Foden back for more
Phil Foden scored City's third goal in that win over Sunderland earlier this season and his tally for the season now stands at 10. He's 9/5 with Paddy Power for another strike here while BetMGM price him at a tempting 19/20 for a goal or assist.
Brian Brobbey is an old-school centre forward and the Sunderland striker's physicality could cause Guardiola's defence some problems. The Dutchman is 13/5 at Paddy Power for a goal or assist.
Probable line-ups
Sunderland stopper Dan Ballard missed the draw with Leeds and is an injury doubt again here. Chesmine Talbi, Noah Sadiki, Arthur Masuaku, Bertrand Traore, Reinildo and Habib Diarra remain on AFCON duty.
Manchester City look set to be without Rodri, Mateo Kovacic, John Stones, Oscar Bobb and Jeremy Doku again due to injury. They only have Rayan Ait-Nouri and Omar Marmoush away at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Sunderland: Roefs, Cirkin, Geertruida, Alderete, Mukiele, Hume, Rigg, Adingra, Le Fe, Xhaka, Brobbey.
Manchester City: Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O'Reilly, B Silva, Gonzalez, Reijnders, Foden, Cherki, Haaland.
Anything else catch the eye?
Sunderland defender Trai Hume likes a tackle and the Northern Irishman has picked up yellow cards in four of his last nine outings. He's a decent 7/2 with Paddy Power to go into the book again while the 4/1 on offer at Bet365 for Hume to commit over 1.5 fouls looks great value.
We saw 11 corners when these sides faced off earlier this season at the Etihad and five of them went to Sunderland. That suggests over 3.5 Black Cats corners stands a chance here at evens with BetMGM while over 10.5 match corners also looks good at 31/20 with Paddy Power.
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