Carlisle United boss Keith Curle will draw on experience of previously facing top sides when looking to plot his side’s route to victory tonight.
The Cumbrians entertain Sunderland at Brunton Park this evening, kick-off 7.45pm, looking to pull off one of the shock results in this year’s Carabao Cup.
Curle’s side head into tonight’s match high in confidence having won three straight matches following their opening day defeat to Swindon Town.
And as Carlisle turn their attentions to the second round Carabao Cup tie, Curle has told carlisleunited.co.uk previous experience of facing Liverpool, Everton, Queens Park Rangers and Derby County in recent years will prove invaluable.
“We started to focus on the Sunderland game on Sunday morning,” he said.
“We had a debrief with the rest of the staff about Saturday’s game as we were driving home and then we collated the analysis and information we have so that we could start the work on our next fixture.
“From there we started to plot our game plan and identify the strengths they’ve got. Some of them are quite obvious, because they’ve got some good players, and we’re going to have to deal with that.”
“One thing we do know is that we’ll be competitive,” he continued.
“I think we’ve shown in the games against Liverpool, Everton, QPR and Derby that we don’t shy away from any challenge, however big the team is.
“We accept challenges and there will be an element of bravery which is needed when you’re playing against good players. We won’t get overawed by them, but we’ll be very respectful.”