Sunderland's Luke O'Nien(Image: Malcolm Mackenzie/ProSports/REX/Shutterstock)

Luke O'Nien explains how Sunderland must approach the Wear-Tyne FA Cup derby

Sunderland take on Newcastle United at the Stadium of Light tomorrow in the FA Cup third round

by · ChronicleLive

Captain Luke O'Nien insists Sunderland will not change the way they approach this weekend's FA Cup third round tie against Newcastle United as the North East prepares for the first derby in almost eight years. The Black Cats take on the Magpies at the Stadium of Light tomorrow lunchtime in an eagerly anticipated game between the region's big two.

Last time the sides met in March 2016 they were competing on an equal footing in the Premier League but tomorrow's game pits Michael Beale's Championship play-off challengers against a Newcastle side aiming to secure a European place for a second successive season. Sunderland go into the game sitting sixth in the table having won four of their last seven games and unbeaten in the last three, while Eddie Howe's Newcastle are ninth in the Premier League and have lost seven of their last eight games in all competitions.

"We're really excited," said O'Nien. "I've waited for this game since I joined, and I think it's my sixth season now.

"The North East has been due one for a very long time so it's finally here and I'm really looking forward to it. As the gaffer has said, it's a chance for us to go out and fulfil our potential against a Premier League team and a team that has played in the Champions League.

"It's going to be a really good test for us and it's up to us to carry on building on the foundations. There's nothing we have to change, we just have to carry on doing what we have been doing week-in and week-out, doing our research, putting in a gameplan, and executing that."

The tie comes on the back of a busy festive period but O'Nien says the groundwork for the tie was laid back in the summer, long before the third round draw was made. He said: "If you take the game in isolation it's huge but the work started back on June 26, the day we reported back [for pre-season] when you hope for a draw like this.

"We come out on the training pitch every day and we prepare for games like this. It's really good that we get the chance to test ourselves in a game like this and we want to be playing this sort of opposition week-in and week-out."

The draw was made at the beginning of December, with the teams paired together in this competition for the first time since March 1956 when Sunderland beat the then holders Newcastle 2-0 at St James' Park in the quarter-finals. O'Nien said of the draw: "A few of us were together at the time and when the draw came we were just dead excited for it.

"We know how much it means to the area, we know it's one of the best derbies in the world, and to be able to experience it this weekend is going to be special for many reasons. To be able to represent the club in one of these games is going to be great and it's a new thing for all of us.

"There's going to be an atmosphere that we haven't ever heard before and it's important we put in a performance that makes everybody proud."