Sunderland boss Dick Advocaat knows the importance of the derby with Newcastle United.

Advocaat spent four years in charge of Scottish giants Rangers, but admits he did not fully appreciate the importance of the Rangers-Celtic rivalry when he arrived in Glasgow in 1998.

"For us it's a big game," he said.

"It's very important not just because it is a derby, but because we need points.

"Every next game is always the most important, but this time it is against Newcastle and that makes it even more so.

"I made a mistake in one of my first Celtic-Rangers games after I had taken over at Rangers.

"They [the media] said 'it's a huge game'. I said we had 24 huge games, or however many it was.

"But afterwards I understood how important that game is there!

"We lost 1-5, but I said after that game that we will not do that again and we went on to become champions and win two cups that season."