Thomas Sorensen, Gavin McCann and Kevin Phillips will all get a rousing reception on Saturday when they return to the Stadium of Light to face their former club according to Derek from Sunderland.

We asked yesterday if the former players would get a good reception and Derek from Sunderland emailed in to say "The answer is a definite yes and to be honest we all hope they are brilliant on the day but end up on the losing team."

He went on to say of Sunderland's chances against Villa "Having said that you'd have to play pretty badly for us to beat you judging by our performance against Pompey."

Derek also had a request he wanted to make. If you're name is Huw and your girlfriend is called Emma and she works for Lloyds TSB, contact me as Derek would like to buy you a beer.

So, it looks like a good reception for McCann, Sorensen and Phillips. Let's just hope they walk away with the three points this weekend.