We go into this week’s game against Aston Villa after a morale boosting win at Bolton last weekend and that means only Arsenal have defeated us in three matches and that was a very narrow win for Arsenal at the Emirates, where they have been solid this season. A win for Sunderland on Saturday would not only see Steve Bruce’s side complete back to back wins for the first time this season but would also send Sunderland above Aston Villa and possibly into the top half depending on other results.
Sunderland will have their fair share of backers this weekend at
online betting odds of 13/10 at the time of writing, that could represent value considering Sunderland look to be improving after a slow start (not surprising considering the amount of signings made in the summer) whilst Aston Villa, who have two wins all season are certainly opposable on the back of two losses, the latter at home to West Brom. Aston Villa have drawn more games this season than any other Premiership team, five draws from nine means the draw will also be popular at 23/10 whilst an Aston Villa win is deemed the least likely result at 12/5.
There should be a good few goals in this match, Sunderland’s clean sheet on Saturday was the first clean sheet a team has kept in the last four Sunderland matches. Aston Villa meanwhile have kept just one clean sheet in their last seven matches and Villa have scored in their last six league matches so both teams to score could be one of the best bets of the game at 5/6 whilst over 2.5 goals also makes plenty of appeal at 4/5.
If the game is to be high scoring then the most likely winning scoreline for Sunderland is probably a 2-1 win (the score in two of Sunderland’s last four games and one goal away from that scoreline in the other two) and 2-1 should be backed at 8/1. Aston Villa’s best chance of a win would be by the same scoreline and a 2-1 win for the away side is 11/1 whilst if the game is a draw 1-1 and 2-2 should be considered at 6/1 and 16/1 respectively.
There will be plenty of pressure on Darren Bent back at the Stadium of Light after his sudden departure in January, he is the favourite to open the scoring at 11/2 whilst Bent is 13/8 to net at anytime. Sunderland’s most likely goalscorer is deemed to be Nicklas Bendtner after his late goal against Bolton last week, the Dane is 6/1 to score the first goal of the game and 2/1 to score at anytime, that bet should make some appeal. Another anytime scorer worth considering is Seb Larsson who will be a danger from set pieces, Larsson is 7/2 to score at anytime on Saturday.