Stoke City v Sunderland Betting Tips

This is certainly an early season relegation six pointer as 19th placed Stoke City take on bottom of the table Sunderland. Whilst it is important for either side to win this game, mainly to take the points off the opposition, both teams know that if they lose then they will soon start to be cut adrift.

Stoke City have failed to win a match this season, although recent results have been an improvement on their four consecutive defeats with the Potters picking up draws against West Bromwich Albion and Manchester United. Mark Hughes’ team will have certainly had a lift in confidence after these results and will feel they have a good chance of notching their first win of the season at home to Sunderland.

In fact, it is probably true that the international break came at the wrong time for Stoke as it has disrupted a potentially good run which could have lifted them out of the bottom three. As it happens, they now have to try and continue their recent form despite the break in play.

Everybody has been saying how defence has been Stoke’s problem this season, and, whilst that is true and proved by their awful record of 16 goals conceded (the worst in the league), it has taken the attention away from their lacklustre forward line which has only scored five this season – like their defence, the worst in the league.

A club with such good attacking options in the likes of Marko Arnautovic, Xherdan Shaqiri and Bojan Krkić should not have these sorts of problems.

However, despite their poor start to the season, it must be said that four out of five of Stoke’s losses came against sides in the top five with the other one being eighth placed Crystal Palace. We are more likely to see what Stoke are capable of this weekend as they face lesser opposition.

There was an air of optimism when David Moyes arrived in the Sunderland managerial hot seat this summer and there were dreams that the Black Cats would not have to fight it out in yet another relegation battle (despite Moyes saying they would). They ran title favourites Manchester City close in the first match of the season but it has all been pretty much downhill since then with four losses out of six and no wins.

However, after throwing away a 2-0 lead against Crystal Palace, Sunderland recovered in their last match to scrape a well earned point against a relatively in-form West Brom side. Like Stoke, this international break may not have helped Moyes’ team as it has broken up what could have been a potential few games of improvement. It will be interesting to see if they have added to the confidence gained from that 1-1 draw against Albion during the last couple of weeks.

Sunderland’s season mirrors Stoke’s in another way in that all bar one of all the matches they have lost have come against teams in top five and eighth placed Crystal Palace. Their upcoming run of fixtures against teams in and around them will allow us to see what Sunderland will really be like this season and whether they will have survived come May 2017.

The Black Cats have a few injury concerns going into this match with vital defender Jan Kirchhoff out for another six weeks or so, whilst summer marquee loan signing Adnan Januzaj will not be back for another month.

Goals will undoubtedly be the problem for Sunderland this season with them relying so heavily on Jermain Defoe. However, if you have to rely on somebody, Defoe is not a bad choice at all. The former England striker has four goals this season, with half of those coming away from home, and will fancy himself against a dodgy looking Stoke City defence. You can get this at 9/4 with 888Sport which are the best odds even without their treble bonus. The 888Sport new customer bonus is certainly worth taking advantage of here as it means getting a huge payout should Defoe find the net.

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