Sam Ricketts not only wants to make it three successive wins for the Whites on Tuesday evening but he is also aiming to get one over on a close friend .

The versatile defender will come up against Michael Turner at the Stadium of Light when Bolton head to the North East for the rearranged fixture.

Like Ricketts, Turner departed Hull City last summer after a number of successful years together.

But three points, not sentiment, is the ultimate priority for the 28-year-old Wales international.

Ricketts said: "I'm really looking forward to the game, to be honest. When you are winning you want to keep that habit going and try to pick up the points.

"Michael Turner is up there, who was obviously at Hull City with me last year. We were room-mates and used to play alongside each other - I was right-back and he was centre-half. So I'm looking forward playing against him.

"But it's another massive game for us and we will be looking to keep our run going. It's similar to West Ham in terms of going there and trying to keep the fans quiet."

Sunderland enter the contest in 15th position, and Ricketts is surprised with their current standing following an encouraging start to the season.

Ricketts explained: "It has obviously shown how well they started the season because they have not won since November. At the start of the season they were being tipped to perhaps push into Europe.

"They have got good individual players and I'm not sure why it's not happening for them, and hopefully it won't again on Tuesday night."

Whereas Bolton recorded the impressive 2-1 win at Upton Park on Saturday, Sunderland had a free weekend.

But Ricketts is hopeful that the break from Premier League combat won't work in the Black Cats favour.

He concluded: "Training is a lot different to games and sometimes when you see a team that hasn't played for a while then they can take 10-15 minutes to get going.

"If that is the case then we will look to take advantage early on and start like we did against West Ham."