NEW signing Patrick van Aanholt will make his first appearance for Sunderland in Portugal tonight.

The former Chelsea signing, after arriving from Chelsea on Friday for £1.5m, will be in the Sunderland starting line-up that faces CD Nacional at the Estadio Municipal de Albufeira.

Poyet looks set to start with two strikers up front, which was always his intention when he first took over at the Stadium of Light last October. Steven Fletcher and Connor Wickham will start.

The Sunderland boss has included goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon, who was a free agent this summer after leaving Manchester City, in goal ahead of Vito Mannone, who is expected to play the second half. Sunderland’s other new recruits Billy Jones and Jordi Gomez also start.

SUNDERLAND (4-4-2): Pantilimon; Jones, Brown, O’Shea, Van Aanholt; Cattermole; Johnson, Gomez, Giaccherini; Fletcher, Wickham. Subs: Mannone (gk), N’Diaye, Mavrias, Ba, Bridcutt, Roberge.

CD NACIONAL (4-4-2): Gottardi; Zainadine, Miguel, Ezzat, Marçal, Aly Ghazal, Ayala, Gomaa, Mário Rondon, Suk, Marco Matia.