Dundee United boss Jack Ross will welcome his former club Sunderland to Tannadice for their pre-season friendly on Saturday.
The two teams will be looking to return to winning ways after they both suffered defeat in their most recent warm-up fixtures.
Match preview
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Following the departure of Tam Courts to Budapest Honved, Dundee United have appointed Jack Ross as their new head coach on a two-year deal.
The 46-year-old is now tasked with either replicating or bettering last season's fourth-placed finish in the Scottish Premiership, their highest top-flight placing for nearly a decade.
Ross has brought in Steven Fletcher, Craig Sibbald and Dylan Levitt so far this summer, the latter joining on a permanent deal from Manchester United, and the Tangerines boss is hoping to make further additions before the 2022-23 campaign, with a new goalkeeper high on the agenda following Benjamin Siegrist's move to Celtic.
Dundee United began their pre-season preparations with a 1-1 draw against Northampton Town in a behind-closed-doors friendly, before travelling to Spain and losing 1-0 against Port Vale on Wednesday.
The Tangerines are scheduled to return back to Scotland for Saturday's home clash with Sunderland before facing another League One side in the form of Fleetwood Town at Highbury the following weekend. Ross and co have just under two weeks to prepare for their opening Premiership fixture against newly-promoted Kilmarnock on July 30.
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Sunderland, meanwhile, ended their pre-season tour of Portugal with a 2-0 defeat against Jose Mourinho's Roma on Wednesday.
The Black Cats had previously seen their friendly against Rangers abandoned at half time due to a power cut at the Estadio Municipal de Albufeira. Versatile midfielder Luke O'Nien scored the only goal of the shortened game.
Alex Neil's men now have four more pre-season friendlies this summer against Dundee United, Bradford City, Accrington Stanley and Hartlepool United before kicking off their 2022-23 Championship campaign against Coventry City on July 31.
Sunderland ended their four-year stay in League One after beating Wycombe Wanderers 2-0 in the playoff final last season, with the appointment of Neil in February a huge factor behind their upturn in form towards the back-end of the campaign.
The Black Cats have made three new signings so far, with defender Daniel Ballard arriving from Arsenal, striker Leon Dajaku joining from Union Berlin and winger Jack Clarke making his loan deal from Tottenham Hotspur permanent.
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Team News
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Dundee United manager Ross used 20 players in their recent friendly against Port Vale and rotation is to be expected again on Saturday.
Levitt, Sibbald and former Sunderland striker Fletcher all started last time out and the trio are set to feature again along with Nicky Clark who was the club's top scorer last season with 10 goals.
Sunderland boss Neil, meanwhile, is also set to hand several members of his squad minutes this weekend, particularly those who did not feature against Roma.
The likes of Ballard, Trai Hume and Corry Evans were all unused substitutes last time out, but they are set to feature at some stage against the Tangerines.
Youngster Niall Huggins– who has been sidelined with injury since September last year – worked with the club's medical staff in Portugal but he is still some way off returning to first-team action.
Dundee United possible starting lineup:
Eriksson; Graham, Edwards, Mulgrew; Smith, Butcher, Levitt, Harkes, McMann; Clark, Fletcher
Sunderland possible starting lineup:
Patterson; Hume, Ballard, Batth, Cirkin; O'Nien, Evans; Roberts, Pritchard, Clarke; Stewart
We say: Dundee United 1-1 Sunderland
It remains to be seen how both sides will line up for Saturday's fixture, but a closely-fought contest is expected at Tannadice. Both teams will fancy their chances of success, but as there is little to separate them, a score draw could be on the cards.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Oliver Thomas
