Sunderland v Coventry City live stream, Sunday 31 July, 12pm BST
Sunderland will be looking to mark their return to the Championship with a win when they host Coventry on Sunday.
The Black Cats secured a place in the second tier for the 2022/23 campaign by winning the League One play-offs in May. A 2-1 aggregate victory over Sheffield Wednesday in the semis allowed thousands of Sunderland fans to descend on Wembley for the final, which ended in a comfortable 2-0 victory over Wycombe Wanderers.
Alex Neil, who took charge amid a downturn in results in February, fulfilled his remit at the first time of asking. He and everyone else at the Stadium of Light may publicly insist that survival is the priority this season, but deep down a club of Sunderland's size would probably be disappointed with a 21st-place finish.
Sunderland have strengthened their squad with players from the division above and the division below: Jack Clarke and Daniel Ballard have arrived from Tottenham and Arsenal respectively, while Callum Wilson (Shrewsbury) and Alex Bass (Portsmouth) have moved from League One to the Championship just like the club they have joined.
Coventry were in Sunderland's position two years ago. Their first season back in the Championship saw them finish 16th, before the Sky Blues edged up to 12th last term. The play-offs will be the goal this time around, albeit Coventry are not as well fancied for some of the top six as some of their second-tier rivals.
Mark Robins is an excellent manager at this level, though, and the club have used the loan market to good effect. Callum Doyle, Jonathan Panzo and Tayo Adaramola will all improve the squad at Robins' disposal, while there have been no significant exits up to now. Keeping hold of the likes of Dominic Hyam and Viktor Gyokeres is a major boost for Coventry, although there is still more than a month of the transfer window remaining.
Kick-off is at 12pm BST on Sunday 31 July, and the game is being broadcast live by Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football. See below for international broadcast options.
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VPN guide
Use a VPN to watch Premier league football from outside your country
If you’re out of the country for a round of Premier League fixtures, then annoyingly your domestic on-demand services won’t work – the broadcaster knows where you are because of your IP address (boo!). You'll be blocked from watching it, which is not ideal if you’ve paid up for a subscription and still want to catch the action without resorting to illegal feeds you’ve found on Reddit.
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UK TV rights
How to watch Premier League live streams for UK subscribers
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US TV rights
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Canada TV rights
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