CONNOR WICKHAM makes his first start in a Sunderland shirt at Bolton this afternoon.

CONNOR WICKHAM makes his first start in a Sunderland shirt at Bolton this afternoon.

The England Under-21 international, an £8.1m buy from Ipswich in the summer, will start alongside Nicklas Bendtner, who returns after missing the defeat at Arsenal, in attack.

There is also a place in midfield for Jack Colback alongside David Vaughan, with captain Lee Cattermole dropped to the bench as manager Steve Bruce looks to avoid a defeat that would drop Sunderland in to the bottom three.

BOLTON WANDERERS (4-4-2): Jaaskelainen; Boyata, Cahill, Wheater, Robinson; Eagles, Pratley, Reo-Coker, Petrov; Ngog, Davies. Subs: Bogdan (gk), Tuncay, Gardner, Knight, Davies, Klasnic, Kakuta.

SUNDERLAND (4-4-2): Mignolet; O'Shea, Turner, Brown, Richardson; Larsson, Colback, Vaughan, Sessegnon; Bendtner, Wickham. Subs: Bardsley, Cattermole, Gardner, Ji, Meyler, Elmohamady, Westwood (gk).