Cats pose a threat, says City boss Pearson
Nigel Pearson says he is anticipating a difficult game when Sunderland travel to Ashton Gate on Saturday.
Bristol City are expecting a crowd in excess of 24,000 for their opening home fixture of the Championship season, afterfalling to a narrow2-1defeat against Hull City last time out.
Pearson felt his side were unfortunate in that game, giventhat Hull were awarded a dubious penalty and then scored a late winner with a deflected strike.
Pearson says he has watched Sunderland's opening-day draw with Coventry City and while he felt Mark Robins' side were deserving of their point, he said it demonstrated that the Black Cats will pose a threat for his side.
"I saw the game, it was quite a scrappy game ," Pearson said.
"They' ll have been disappointednot to hold on for a win but I though that overall Coventry certainly from the second half de served to get something out of the game.
"What bearing that has on our game I don't know, I'm really thinking about how we get our players to get the performance right. Teams that get promoted from League One have the added buoyancy and confidence, so I would expect it to be a tough game. Alex has had some success as well in terms of promotions and setting up sides that are difficult to play against. I don't expect an easy game, put it that way."
Pearson expects to field a similar side to last Saturday, with former Sunderland loanee Antoine Semenyo still absent through injury. He does however expect defender Zak Vyner to be available.
Pearson is weighing up whether to hand Kane Wilson a debut at right wing back, and also hinted that influential defender Thomas Kalas will not return to the squad.