Bradford City's push for the Premiership may have taken many in football by surprise this season - but Sunderland defender Paul Butler is not one of them.

The 26-year-old who joined the Wearsiders in a £1 million deal from Bury is expected to line up against City tonight.

The Bantams are hoping to cut Sunderland's 12-point deficit at the top of the First Division and Butler said: "Their success doesn't surprise me.

"At the start of the season, I tipped Bradford and Huddersfield to do well. At the back end of last year, they put a good run of results together and I fancied them to do it again this year.

"Bradford have had a lot of money to spend and they've kept going. Their two lads up front can score a lot of goals and they've brought in Dean Windass as well."

And as he prepared to travel to Bradford for tonight's top of the table clash, Butler said: "We said if we could win our two home games against Portsmouth and Norwich we'd be in a strong position to go to Bradford."

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