Andy Welsh has challenged his players to give Manchester City’s young guns a hard time on Sunday.
Sunderland under-23s host City at the Stadium of Light keen to extend their stay at the top of the Premier League 2.
Having moved to the summit of the league on Tuesday following a narrow victory at Everton, the young Black Cats have stretched their unbeaten start to their league campaign to four games.
With impressive victories over the Toffees and Southampton to boast, Welsh has now set his sights on dismantling City and continuing his side's fine run of form.
“It is a great achievement for the lads and it’s all about trying to cement our place at the top because City have got some quality young players,” he said.
“Last year we played well against them both times and it’s about trying to learn from that and go again this weekend against them.
“We want to give them a hard time. At this age you have got to develop players to win football matches in anyway you can.
“All football matches are different and it’s about dealing with that to make sure you come out on top at the end of it,” he continued.
“It is very important everyone does their job when we don’t have the ball. We haven’t conceded many goals and that’s pleasing.
“The defence has done very well but also the midfield and the front players have worked well to screen what’s behind them.
“So as a whole unit our principles are good and in order to create any kind of challenging lead that is what you have to achieve and so far the lads have done a great job of it.”
