MARTIN O'NEILL has reassured Sunderland fans that preparations for next season are already under way despite a lack of activity in the transfer market.

O'Neill, in his first summer in charge at the Stadium of Light, has been monitoring his options in his bid to reshape the squad he inherited from Steve Bruce last December.

Wigan's Mohamed Diame is among the free agents he has been looking to bring to Wearside, while he is expecting to spend some cash before the start of the new season on August 18.

Yesterday Sunderland were handed a tricky opening weekend trip to Arsenal before a first home game against Premier League new-boys Reading on August 25.

By that time O'Neill is hoping to have made a number of changes to his squad, although much will depend on the money he raises from outgoings such as Ahmed Elmohamady, who has been interesting West Ham.

With little going on publicly to excite the club's supporters, O'Neill said yesterday: "The confirmation of the fixtures galvanises everyone's thoughts towards the new season and the planning and preparation has already begun in earnest.

"Our opening game is certainly a challenging one. There's a lot of hard work to be done between now and then in order to ensure we are ready for the season ahead. We are certainly looking forward to seeing what we can achieve."

After the dates with Arsenal and Reading, there is an early taste of encountering a Liverpool team under the management of Brendan Rodgers when he takes his team to Wearside on September 15.

Ahead of the first Wear-Tyne meeting of the season with Newcastle at Sunderland on October 20, O'Neill must negotiate a fixture with the Premier League champions Manchester City on October 6.

City will also provide Sunderland with the opposition on Boxing Day at the Stadium of Light, which is a repeat of last season's festive date when Ji Dong-Won grabbed a late winner.

On New Year's Day Sunderland will travel across to Merseyside to face Liverpool.

The trip to St James' Park for the return date with rivals Newcastle is scheduled for April 13 - and there will be just five more matches to be played after that.

Sunderland will finish with a home date with promoted Southampton on May 12 and then finish with a potentially difficult trip to Tottenham on May 19.