Sunderland host Southampton at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, hoping to regain some form and confidence after a poor start to the season. On the other hand the visitors are hopeful of pulling off another remarkable campaign and possibly another European qualification. Last season Sunderland won against Southampton at home, while the Saints have won just one of the last ten meetings against the Black Cats. However, that one win was a memorable one: 8-0 at St Mary's last season.
Last week Sunderland suffered a very heavy defeat, 6-2 at Everton, despite being on level terms in the second half of the match. Before that match they had secured their first win of the season, a remarkable 3-0 success in the Tyne-Wear derby against Newcastle. The poor results from the start of the season leave them in the relegation zone for the moment after five defeats in their last seven Premier League matches. They have lost just twice at home so far though, so they are hopeful of pulling something off in front of their own fans. Lee Cattermole will be out of contention due to an injury, but Fabio Borini, Ola Toivonen, Younes Kaboul and John O'Shea should be available again. The Saints are in solid form, with three wins and two draws out of their last five matches. Last weekend they defeated Bournemouth to move to seventh place in the league table and they have also secured a place in the League Cup quarter-finals. Southampton are unbeaten away from home this season, but won just one match: against defending champions Chelsea. They will be without suspended midfielder Victor Wanyama, while Jay Rodriguez and Shane Long might miss out through injury.
Probable line-ups:
Sunderland: Pantilimon - Coates, O'Shea, Caboul, Yedlin - Rodwell, M'Vila, Van Aanholt, Johnson - Defoe, Fletcher
Southampton: Stekelenburg - Soares, Fonte, Van Dijk, Bertrand - Ward-Prowse, Clasie, Davis - Mane, Tadic, Pelle
My prediction: Southampton to win 3-1.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Sunderland win - 4.75 Draw - 3.80 Southampton win - 1.80
sharpe
8 years ago
Sunderland lost again and it's looking like it will be the another season in a row for them in which they will have to fight for survival. And I don't know if they'll have the luck which is also needed like in the last seasons. Southampton is stabilized now after the tough begining this season and the future looking bright...
Sunderland lost again and it's looking like it will be the another season in a row for them in which they will have to fight for survival. And I don't know if they'll have the luck which is also needed like in the last seasons. Southampton is stabilized now after the tough begining this season and the future looking bright for them.
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Shumar4life
8 years ago
Sunderland is one of main candidates for relegation this season, and Southampton is one of the teams, which one will try to get Europe place spot or maybe even Champions league qualification's spot. They have great team, and they are in good form, and they could stay ahead of Liverpool
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Alexa Alexa 8 years ago
Sunderland continues to struggle.Change of coach and giving a job to Big Sam Allardyce still is no productive for them.On the other side,we saw another good performance from Southampton.They play very attractive football.They are in very good form in last month.
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nik92 8 years ago
Sautemtpon has an excellent tandem, Pele and Dusan Tadic, when this two guys in the mood to play, that's the beauty of football. Two of them will be enough for victory.Sunderland is easily lost last match against Everton, I do not see why they wouldn't lose today.
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