Lee Johnson says he's under no illusion how difficult the Black Cats game against Shrewsbury Town will be.
The Shrews travel to the Stadium of Light in what will be their first League One fixture of 2021 after a coronavirus outbreak at the club.
Town will be without manager and former Sunderland assistant Steve Cotterill after he was hospitalised with the virus.
The Black Cats head into the tie in search of their first league win on home soil under Johnson.
He said: "I think this is a really tough game for us. Obviously Steve [Cotterill] has made changes, he knows the division - he's won the division with Bristol City very convincingly.
"They've got good players.
"You look at their squad and look at the names in their squad, they've got good players.
"They're on a good run - a solid run. Obviously Southampton would have been a difficult game for them both in terms of the standard but in terms of their first return like we had at Northampton after having a lot of people out with covid.
"I'm under no illusion that this game is a really good one to have and it's a really difficult one, hopefully, for both teams."
