Michael Chopra is delighted with the way his Sunderland career has begun.

Given his well-documented support for Newcastle United, the former Magpie prospect has quickly been accepted by Sunderland supporters, with a last-minute winner against Tottenham and a stunning equaliser against Birmingham City.

And the 23-year-old is delighted with how things have gone on a personal level as he predicted even better things from the Black Cats.

He told The Journal: "I could not have wished for a better start. Hopefully it gets easier from now on.

"We did well against Manchester United. People would have written us off as being beat five or six-nil. We conceded a sloppy goal from a set piece. Going there was hard. We hopefully can regroup and start to pick up points."