Sunderland captain delivers Newcastle verdict as Michael Beale's side look to bounce back in Hull fixture

Luke O'Nien says he's excited for next month's Wear-Tyne derby but insists the team can't look too far ahead just yet.

The Black Cats have three Championship fixtures before facing Newcastle in the FA Cup third round on Saturday, January 6, starting with a trip to Hull on Boxing Day. Sunderland will then face Rotherham and Preston before coming up against their North East rivals at the Stadium of Light.

"Obviously the derby is a long time away in terms of football," O'Nien, who has captained Sunderland for most of the season, told the Echo: "We've got three games between now and then. Listen, we get excited when we talk about it, when the draw came out, but there's just so many things happening before then.

"We've got a lot of points to pick up, a lot of homework to do on each individual team to not get too far ahead. Really excited for that one but there's a lot of work to do between then and now."

Sunderland dropped to ninth in the Championship after a 3-0 defeat against Coventry in Michael Beale's first game in charge of the Black Cats, but remain just three points off a play-off place.

On the Boxing Day trip to Hull, O'Nien added: "I’m looking forward to Boxing Day, it’s a quick turnaround which suits us nicely. Nothing needs to change drastically, we just need to tighten up in a few areas. We’ll do our homework on Hull, watch a bit of our game back and move forward as a team like we always do."