Geordie Burn has previewed today's showdown in the Newcastle match programme.
He wrote: “Growing up, we had season tickets in the East Stand. We had two season tickets between three of us: me, my dad and my brother. The home games against Sunderland were class.
"The whole area pretty much stops on derby day. Those are the days that are remembered and everyone speaks about. Whenever fans come up to us now, getting close to derby day, it’s always about how important it is that we beat Sunderland.
"Everyone I knew was Newcastle, you could feel the excitement, the build-up. You could feel it in the city when you’re out and about. A generation younger than me probably don’t appreciate it as much because we haven’t had so many derbies, but the older generation like my dad know how it is. It’s life and death – and rightly so.
"It’s quite hard to explain the derby for people who don’t live up here. It’s not like Liverpool-Everton or Villa-Birmingham when they’re in the same city. There’s distance between us, but because there are so few teams around us in the North, it’s a huge deal.
"You want to be the best team in the North East. For a long time when I was growing up, Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough were all in the Premier League. They’re important games – but nothing is more important than Newcastle vs Sunderland."