Sunderland V Stoke City Betting: Monday, 1st Febuary (ESPN)

Sunderland V Stoke City

Sunday, 31^st January – 20:00 GMT (ESPN)

Sunderland

League Position: 13th

Recent Form: LDDLL

Steve Bruce has been doing his utmost in getting Sunderland off this win-less track, attempting to solve this bizzare Sunderland riddle, but to no avail. Yet another defeat, this time at Goodison Park to Everton, extended their win drought to nine games leaving the Black Cats without a league win since the middle of November. Sunderland are desperate for a piece of luck, or a bit of good fortune, anything that will end this disastrous run of form as Sunderland’s season rapidly turns from bad to worse as now the relegation zone looms over them.

For now, Sunderland are five positions above the drop zone but there is just three points separating them from Burnley in 18^th position. A defeat on Monday, in front of the ESPN cameras, what would be their twelfth of the campaign, would see yet more sides leapfrogging them in the table. A win, however, would see them jump above their match day opponents, Stoke, into 12^th position and put some breathing space between them and the drop, which is imperative for Sunderland after they spent a fair bit during the summer and relegation from the Premiership is unthinkable.   

Sunderland were very poor on Wednesday when they crashed to their second defeat in succession at Everton. The 2-0 defeat came a little over a week after they were thumped 7-2 by Chelsea, and that thumping clearly had an impact, a negative one, as the Black Cats were poor at Goodison Park and didn’t cause Tim Howard in the Everton goal anywhere near enough problems. However, that was the first time they had failed to find the net in four games, even putting two past Chelsea, and so perhaps the confidence has even been drained from their main asset, their inform striker Darren Bent.

Bent, who has been head and shoulders above the rest at Sunderland this season, has 14 league goals to his name and is going through an enjoyable spell under Steve Bruce. The England hopeful has scored some big goals for Sunderland this season, scoring his sides winner against both Arsenal & Liverpool, and now Steve Bruce needs his most expensive Sunderland signing to come good once again with a goal or two on Monday night. Bent has scored in three of his last four starts at The Stadium of Light and should be a good bet to bolster his tally for the season at home to Stoke City, although winning the game is far more important.

Stoke City

League Position: 12th

Recent Form: LLLWD

Stoke will be full of confidence after putting two fabulous results under their belts. Their last appearance in the league was a 1-1 draw with Liverpool at The Brittania, while they bettered that result by beating Arsenal 3-1 in the FA Cup last Saturday, also at The Brittania. Both were sensational results, more the latter in fairness, but now Stoke go on their travels seeking out their first away win since October. The Potters have also won just once in eight so their situation in regards to winning league games isn’t too dissimilar to Sunderland.  

This is a big game for Stoke as defeat would see them fall at least one position, possibly more depending on other results over the weekend. The Potters are currently two points above Sunderland in the table and would only need a draw to keep Sunderland at bay. However, a win just might be enough to lift them back into the top half of the table and that’s a worthy incentive for any side. However, to do so they will need to double their away tally, with Stoke’s only away victory for the season coming at Tottenham, of all the places.

Stoke have struggled to adapt to life on the road this season and their one, solitary away victory simply highlights their inability to win games away from fortress Britannia. In fact, it’s got so bad for Stoke on the road that they’ve now lost three away games on the spin after suffering defeats at Arsenal (2-0), Aston Villa (1-0) and Man City (2-0). It must be said that all three were tough venues and games they didn’t stand a great chance of getting a lot from but the concern for us is their poor goalscoring ratio. In ten outings thus far, Stoke have found the net just four times. A tally even worse than Portsmouth and that takes some doing. Their last away strike was at The KC, home of a hapless Hull City, whilst it’s been a little under 390 minutes since Stoke fans last celebrated an away goal.

Stoke’s away form is terrible but Sunderland have lost their swagger in recent weeks and so Stoke could be the ideal team to give them a knock-out blow. Still, we don’t fancy their chances, Stoke’s that is, in this game as their lack of fire-power should tell in this contest as we feel they will need to outscore Sunderland, and we can’t see that happening. For Stoke to knick a result they would need to keep Sunderland at bay for the full 90 minutes. Keep an inform Darren Bent quiet in front of his own fans – Very unlikely. Stoke may have a physical edge going into this encounter but they look understrength in the forward department and could be overpowered at The Stadium of Light.

Match Verdict: Sunderland to WIN – 2.15 BlueSquare

Stoke, who have lost their last three away league games, are there for the taking for Sunderland to finally end their dire run without a win in the league. It’s been far too long, nine games in fact, since Sunderland last came out of a Premiership fixture victorious and they won’t get many better opportunities to win a game of football all season than a home fixture with a poor travelling Stoke. If we’re honest, we feel two goals would be enough to seal the win as Stoke have been woeful in front of goal away from home this season, and with Darren Bent scoring in three of his last three home appearances, we fancy Sunderland to put their win less run to bed.

Match Odds:

Sunderland – 2.15 BlueSquare

Draw – 3.40 SkyBet

Stoke City – 3.80 Bet365

SoccerBetting Value Pick: Darren Bent FGS – 5.50 totesport