Sunderland V Wolverhampton Wanderers – Sunday 27th September

Sunderland V Wolverhampton Wanderers

Kick-off: Sunday 27^th September – 16:00 GMT

Venue: The Stadium of Light

Sunderland

League Position: 8th

Recent Form: LWLWL

After being completely outplayed at the weekend, Steve Bruce takes his squad back home where a rejuvenated Wolves take to the Stadium of Light. Sunderland were on the wrong end of a 3-1 defeat away at Burnley last week, although, Steve Bruce will take some compensation from the fact that Burnley have a 100% record at Turf Moor. However, there will be no excuses if Sunderland fail to deliver on their home turf. 

After a decent start, with three wins from six games, Sunderland still find themselves in the top ten. A big positive for any potential Black Cat backer will be the fact that two of Sunderland three victories this season have come at The Stadium of Light. They beat Blackburn Rovers 2-1, while they smashed Hull City off the park in a 4-1 rout of the Tigers. With these results in mind, and taking into consideration their away woes, Steve Bruce & Sunderland will certainly need to capitalise on home advantage as it’s clear Sunderland won’t pick up too many points on their travels after losing two away games on the spin.

Sunderland did have their moments against Burnley, with Darren bent embracing the score sheet with a sleek one-on-one finish. He’s extended his goal tally to 5, just one behind Wayne Rooney who has six league goals to his name. Bent has been immense for Sunderland so far and he will be their biggest goal threat in this fixture with Wolves.

Sunderland do look a lot more compact than last season although they do still look a tad vulnerable at the back. However, Burnley’s goals were pretty emphatic with David Nugent scoring two beauties, while an Alexander penalty, due to a rash Ferdinand tackle, sentenced Sunderland to their third defeat of the season. Were they to tighten up at the back and reduce the amount of rash mistakes they make, Sunderland could become a decent side.

Wolves

League Position: 12th

Recent Form: WLDLW

Wolves fans will feel they are on cloud nine this week after their side secured their second set of three points this season. A narrow 2-1 win at home to Fulham has given fans a new found optimism and the players should be buoyed by their recent success, which should stand them in good stead as they face a Sunderland side suffering a weekend hangover away at Burnley.

Mick McCarthy got his tactics spot on against Fulham as his side overran Fulham in the middle of the park, which is a big achievement as Fulham do posses some workmanlike players in the centre of midfield. Goals from Kevin Doyle & David Edwards was enough to hand Wolves just their second win of the season and their first at Molineux. However, they now face a rather daunting trip to the Stadium of Light but, despite the quality on show at Sunderland, Wolves are the inform side of the two, after their victory last Sunday, and they will feel confident of making it two games without defeat and possibly recording their first back-to-back wins of the season.

Wolves were awful in their latest away outing when they capitulated away at Blackburn, losing 3-1 at Ewood Park. Blackburn were hardly in glorious form that day but Wolves simply failed to turn up and another dreadful display like that and Wolves will struggle to get anything out of the game. Wolves can and do create a hat full of chances but they lack a quality forward to convert the many opportunities they do carve out. Kevin Doyle scored his first goal in a Wolves shirt but we aren’t too confidence in him scoring too many this season, but, over the horizon is the return of Sylvain Ebanks-Blake. The former United trainee was the clubs top goalscorer last season with 25 goals and his absence through injury has left a big void up front, one Mick McCarthy has yet to find a suitable replacement for.

Head-to-Head:

These two have never played each other in the Premiership but they have took on one another four times back in The Championship, with Sunderland certainly getting the better of Wolves in the head-to-head. Sunderland have beaten Wolves twice in two meetings at The Stadium of Light, while the Black Cats recorded two satisfactory draws back at Molinuex. However, it’s been three three season since these two last met and there has been a lot of changes within the squads since then.

Match Verdict: Sunderland to WIN – 5/6 SkyBet

Steve Bruce will be eager to put Sunderland’s weekend woes away at Burnley firmly to bed and a win at home to Wolves would certainly do the trick. Home advantage is key here as Sunderland have performed extremely well at The Stadium of Light, even when they lost 3-1 to Chelsea they still had their moments with Darren Bent on form that day as well. He will be pivotal to Sunderland’s chances on Sunday but we fancy the England hopeful to come good and at least score his sixth goal of the season against a Wolves side that has serious troubles in converting chances.

Match Odds:

Sunderland – 5/6 SkyBet

Wolverhampton Wanderers – 4/1 PaddyPower

DRAW – 13/5 Bet365

SoccerBetting Tip: Darren Bent to score a BRACE (Two or more goals) – 5/1 SkyBet