And Steven Taylor has delivered a warning to his former Newcastle United team-mate to expect the worst this weekend.
Taylor: "I've spoken to Michael a few times this season and I'm sure he'll be looking forward to coming back. But I just hope he knows what he's got coming to him.
"It won't be a happy return for him - in fact, it could be a fairly rough reception from his point of view, but that's what playing in a derby is all about.
"He did well for Newcastle when he was here, but that's all forgotten once he pulls on a Sunderland strip. We're focused on what we want to do - and that's beating Sunderland.
"Everyone's saying that it's been a disappointing season, but the recent form has at least started to put a few things right. We want the fans to be going into the summer happy, and beating Sunderland would help achieve that.
"If we can get a win at the weekend the whole city will change. It'll be a much better place and that's something we can take into next year, which is going to be a massive year for us.
"It's come at a great time. If it had been played two months ago, we might have been going into it wondering what was going to happen a little bit.
"Instead, we're going into it full of confidence and on great form. We've had a really good run in the last few weeks and I honestly don't think there's a better time for us to be playing Sunderland.
"I know they've done all right themselves recently as well, but I can promise you that we'll be buzzing at the weekend.
"We know what it means to the fans. It'll be a fantastic day and I can't wait to see them going crazy. The adrenaline will be pumping.
"I don't think we produced our best performance through there, so that's something we know we have to put right. Maybe we played a bit too defensively but, having said that, they still couldn't beat us back then.
"It'll be different at St James's Park. They're coming into the game on the back of a defeat, whereas we played well in our last game at Portsmouth.
"Everybody will be up for it, and nobody has to worry about the attitude we've got. We'll pose a lot of threat. It's a different Newcastle side to the one they faced last time around, and we're going to pose a lot of different questions."