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Okay, this looks bad 19 vs. 20. Battle for the Bottom. Junk against even more junk. If you combined the points of Aston Villa and Sunderland and took their goal difference of -19, you'd have a team in 17th. COMBINED points is barely enough to get out of the drop zone. So yeah, this could be bad.
But since all of our expectations are of a bad match, we are probably going to get the exact opposite. A preview of the sort of scrappy fight that these two clubs will wage in the dying days of the Championship playoff race next year. A brutal 3-2 affair that's low on skill but high on drama.
Or it could be as boring as we expect. Let's hope not! Here's how you can follow along.
Location: Stadium of Light, Sunderland, England
Kick-off time: 3 PM GMT, 10 AM Eastern, 7 AM Pacific
Available TV: None (UK and US)
Available streaming: NBC Sports Live Extra
Available radio: AVTV (subscription required), Westwood One Sports (US)
For listings in other countries, check out LiveSoccerTV.com.
Aston Villa squad
Here’s another look at our line-up for today’s game. #AVFC #SAFC #SUNAVL pic.twitter.com/GpuUTy3DCU
— Aston Villa FC (@AVFCOfficial) January 2, 2016
Opposition squad
Team news is in - what do you think? #SAFC pic.twitter.com/pz6JVOXIum
— G. (@GHSAFC91) January 2, 2016