Sunderland make the long journey down to the south coast today to take on Bournemouth with both sides seeing their league form negatively impacted by their European exploits as both sit in the relegation zone coming into today's fixture.
Having both won their opening two Europa League fixtures, including victories on Thursday over Sturm Graz and Torreense respectively, you would be forgiven for thinking the mood around both of these camps would be good but, domestically, they have just one win between them through their opening six games.
Marco Rose's Cherries are winless in the league so far with three draws and three defeats, the most recent of which was a chastening 5-1 reversal away at Chelsea so the German manager will be hoping to build on their victory over their Austrian opponents three days ago and make it back-to-back home wins against the stuttering Black Cats.
Regis Le Bris has seldom faced hardship since his appointment on Wearside in June 2024 but, while they are flying high in Europe, their only victory in the Premier League so far was against fellow strugglers Fulham at the end of August and they sit just a point ahead of their hosts today.
This fixture last season saw a 1-1 draw back in February with the six total Premier League meetings between these two producing two wins each and two draws so they could scarcely be more evenly-matched historically.
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Bournemouth's Eli Junior Kroupi has yet to play this season following a foot injury in pre-season while, despite his manager saying his injury suffered on international duty is not as serious as first thought, Alex Scott remains absent with a thigh injury.
Sunderland's Brian Brobbey also suffered an injury on international duty but the Dutch striker did return to the squad for their late victory in Portugal in midweek so he may well return to the lineup today.