Sunderland suffered Britannia Stadium blues earlier this season as Joe Allen inspired Stoke City to a 2-0 win, but the odds are against the Potters heading into Saturday’s game.
The Black Cats haven’t lost twice to Stoke in the same season for over two decades, with the Potters last doing the double over Sunderland in the 1993-94 season when both sides were in the second tier.
David Moyes' side are also enjoying a fine fun of form at the Stadium of Light, with the Lads losing just two Premier League games on Wearside since September.
Arsenal and Chelsea are the only two sides to clinch SoL wins during that time.
Stoke, meanwhile, have lost three consecutive PL games on the road, conceding 11 goals in the process (3.7 per match).
And they last suffered four away defeats on the bounce in January 2014 – a run which saw Sunderland win 1-0 at the Stadium of Light.
The Potters have failed to make a big impact on Wearside for a number of years, with the Black Cats unbeaten in their last 14 home league games against the Staffordshire-based side.
And the Potters have failed to score more than one goal in a game at the SoL since 2007, scoring more than once on just one occasion in their last 20 trips to Sunderland.
Former team-mates Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch can both reach milestones on Saturday.
Crouch is just two goals away from netting his 100th Premier League strike, and when he does he’ll become the 26th player to reach triple figures in the PL.
Only Alan Shearer (23) and Frank Lampard (21) have scored more PL goals than Defoe (20) in the month of January.
And since his debut in January 2015, Defoe has scored a higher share of his team’s goals than any other top-flight player during this period (30/80 – 37.5%).