Leeds United vs Sunderland preview: Team news, opposition overview, how to watch
Leeds United go in search of their first pre-season win against Sunderland this Friday morning.
Daniel Farke's side began their summer campaign with a narrow 3-2 defeat to Championship outfit Wrexham over the weekend.
It marked the first of Leeds' three friendlies as part of their US tour, with Farke fielding a team mixed with youngsters, fringe players and one or two stars.
Sunderland are their next opposition, with Leeds failing to beat the Black Cats in the Premier League last season, losing 1-0 at Elland Road in March after drawing 1-1 at the Stadium of Light in December 2025.
The match is scheduled to kick-off at 00:30am on Friday morning at the Sports Illustrated Stadium in New Jersey.
Ahead of it, MOT Leeds News has you covered with everything you need to know regarding team news, the opposition and how to watch the action unfold.
Sunderland: How has their pre-season gone so far?
After earning promotion to the Premier League alongside Leeds in 2024-25, Sunderland enjoyed a remarkable first campaign back amongst English football's elite.
Regis Le Bris' boys claimed seventh spot in the Premier League, as well as earning themselves a place in next season's Europa League.
Naturally, it will be tough for them to improve upon that in 2026-27, and they'll be wary of a second-season slump.
Sunderland have played two pre-season friendlies so far this summer, beating York City 5-1 on 18 July before losing 4-2 to Liverpool in Tennessee last Saturday.
After their clash with Leeds, they'll take on Wrexham as well as French sides Lens and Rennes before opening their Premier League campaign away at Ipswich Town.
So, how can we expect both Farke and Le Bris to approach Friday's friendly, and are their any major injury concerns for either side?
Farke and Le Bris set for contrasting selection approaches
MOT Leeds News predicted that Farke would mix in youngsters and senior players for Leeds' match with Wrexham, and that's exactly what he did.
Regular starters from last season in Joe Rodon, James Justin and Ethan Ampadu all were in the starting XI, as were fringe players such as Joel Piroe, Daniel James and Wilfried Gnonto.
Meanwhile, academy talents Alfie Cresswell, Jayden Lienou and Callum Mills all started against Wrexham too, and so we can perhaps expect Farke to continue with this methodology of mixing his team up against Sunderland.
As for the Black Cats, Le Bris has been picking strong teams in pre-season so far, with their starting XI against Liverpool not featuring one current youth prospect.
Both teams have a largely clean bill of health too, with Omar Alderete still recovering from a knee injury he picked up in the World Cup, but that's Sunderland's only real concern.
Meanwhile, Leeds are dealing with a couple of minor niggles to the likes of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Sebastiaan Bornauw and Jaka Bijol, but all of whom could play a part against Sunderland.
The only more long-term absentee remains Ilia Gruev, as he continues to work back from his meniscus problem, and he's not expected to return to action until later on in pre-season.
For those fans looking to stay up to watch the match, how can they do so and where is the game being shown?
How to watch Leeds vs Sunderland
Leeds fans are renowned for being some of the most hardcore and committed in English football, so there will no doubt be plenty staying up well into the early hours this Friday.
Whites supporters can purchase a match pass for £5.00, granting them access to a livestream of the game.
This will be broadcast on LUTV as well as the official Leeds United app, whilst Premier Sports 2 are also showing the game as well.
Indeed, Leeds fans can watch every one of their US tour matches via LUTV with those aforementioned individual match passes, with live coverage available across the world but excluding the US.